ISLAMABAD – President Dr Arif Alvi has awarded gold medals to two pilots of the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) for their extraordinary and valour role during crisis-like situation at Kabul airport after the Taliban took control of Afghanistan.
PIA CEO Air Marshal (retd) Arshad Malik announced it on Twitter, adding that the prestigious awards have been received by Captain Uzair Khan and Captain Maqsoos Bijrani.
“Feeling humbled by the privilege bestowed upon #PIA by awarding gold medals to my two captains, Capt Uzair Khan (T.J) & Capt Bijrani by the honourable@Pres of Pakistan on exhibiting professionalism, crisis management and valour in the face of chaos. Bravo my team,” he wrote.
Feeling humbled by the privilege bestowed upon #PIA by awarding gold medals to my two captains, Capt Uzair Khan (T.J) & Capt Bijrani by the honourable@Pres of Pakistan on exhibiting professionalism,crisis management and valour in the face of chaos.Bravo my team ✊ pic.twitter.com/YwMb1GtVrK
— Air Marshal Arshad Malik (Retd) (@amarshadmalik) August 31, 2021
Earlier this month, Malik had praised Captain Maqsood Bajrani for bringing a PIA flight from Kabul during a crisis-like situation.
“In a crisis situation, the use of understanding, experience and skills is a sign of a real professional,” the CEO said.
Captain Bajrani of Airbus A320 was waiting for clearance from Air Traffic Control at Kabul airport when the Taliban took control of Afghanistan.
An emergency had been declared at the airport as clouds of smokes could be seen pillowing from the surround hills from the PIA plane.
At that time, Captain Bijrani made sudden announcement of take off for Islamabad. A crew member of the flight said soon afterwards the plane started taxing with high speed to take off, it was because the captain was following two fighter planes running ahead of the PIA plane as he thought it better to follow them.
The crew took a sigh of relief after the captain announced that the plane had entered into the Pakistani territory.
As the plane landed at the Islamabad airport, the captain was appreciated by the PIA CEO.
