27 years on, flight PK-404 still a mystery

[arshad.altaf]

http://tribune.com.pk/story/1171663/27- ... l-mystery/

GILGIT: It was a sunny day on August 25, 1989, when a Pakistan International Airline’s flight, PK-404, touched down on the narrow runway of Gilgit airport. The plane, Fokker-F27 Friendship, taxied to a halt at the terminal. The passengers exited and the crew began preparing for the return flight to Islamabad.

The plane, with 54 passengers— five crew members and 49 passengers— on board took off at 7:35am. Among the passengers were four members of a family. But soon after the take-off, the aircraft disappeared without a trace, fuelling speculation that it might have been downed by India’s army near the Line of Control (LoC)....

[Abbas Ali]

PIA crew included:

Captain S.S. Zubair
Captain Ahsan Aftab Bilgrami
First Officer Sohail Iqbal
Flight Steward Muhammad Maqsood
Air Hostess Khalida Habib

Abbas

[saadm80]

Capt Bilgrami Son is F/O In PIA, Was previously flying for Shaheen Air...
One thing is for sure, F-27 Was shot down in Pakistani Controlled Territory by the Indians, Prior to this Incident there was another Incident where Pak Airforce C-130 Entered Indian Airspace but Crew Soon Realized they were in Hostile Airspace & Changed their Course back to Pakistan Territory, bcz of this Incident, Indian Airforce Northern Command was supposedly suspended-

[Abbas Ali]

PIA F27s performed maritime patrol & military reconnaissance missions during 1971 Indo-Pak war.

So, possibility of PIA F27 commercial flight getting shot down for entering Indian controlled airspace sensitive area making the aircraft appear as a suspicious intruder cannot be ruled out.

Abbas

[raihans]

was there no ground witness by locals in daylight during this mysterious disappearance i.e. shoot down of F27 if so happened, in the area?

[Abbas Ali]

I think the aircraft remains missing and covered by ice in the Himalayas.

Information and photos of a shot down aircraft cannot be concealed for such a long time. And Pakistan would have raised the issue at UN in case the aircraft was shot down by India.

Abbas

[Pakistan-1]

According to a family who is in the Airforce the plane crashed into a mountain and got buried by an avalanche or glacier

[ammad]

According to a family who is in the Airforce the plane crashed into a mountain and got buried by an avalanche or glacier

This is highly likely, If you look at the wild mountain ranges in that region specially in Kohistan area, this is highly possible.

[smhusain_1]

Captain S.S. Zubair
Captain Ahsan Aftab Bilgrami
First Officer Sohail Iqbal
Flight Steward Muhammad Maqsood
Air Hostess Khalida Habib

This was the second registered scrape of Captain Ahsan Aftab Bilgrami, the first being as copilot of B747-282 (AP-AYW) which made a belly landing at Islamabad. On an evening departure from Athens with me, the copilot's (Ahsan Bilgrami) side window was open and was discovered before 80 kt. because of the noise. During the day of this flight, he was restrained by me not take beer; I had told his friend, another copilot on different pattern in Athens that it would be very difficult for me to take him along. I do not know what happened after that because I left to take my rest.

[himalayanman]

I am a hiker and i love to explore google earth, oneday i happened upon a strange wing like structure and some debris near a glacier at 15000 feet near batakundi naran, i ruled it out as PK404 because its too far from 9 minutes flight.. but then i started exploring the possible mountain valleys and i think there is a good chance of finding the 80 foot plane even though in pieces if they are there.
could all good people here help me in following questions.

1- what is the usual flight path of fokkers from gilgit to islamabad. how long does it take and what altitudes does the plane fly at different stages?
2- what are the normal procedures in case of emergency, can the planes take alternative routs?
3- do the pilots on this rout ever consider crash landing sites on the way, where flight 404 might have turned to.
4- is there any complete report on the disappearance and search activities.

if there are other google earth enthusiasts, we can exchange notes and find high-res satellite images of most probable spots.
thanks you

[himalayanman]

are u suggesting that captain had a drinking problem?

[himalayanman]

snow ice and rocks do not remain stationary on the himalayan slopes. they keep sliding down into the valleys.. most of the valleys are regularly visited by locals and hikers up to 14500 feet and higher.. only a few places can keep such a huge wreckage hidden for so long. and we can send teams there too..

with global warming its even more possible that the wreckage would be free from snow and ice during late autumn months such areas can be searched with drones.

[inducedrag]

are u suggesting that captain had a drinking problem?

No he did not have that problem

[NL]

snow ice and rocks do not remain stationary on the himalayan slopes. they keep sliding down into the valleys.. most of the valleys are regularly visited by locals and hikers up to 14500 feet and higher.. only a few places can keep such a huge wreckage hidden for so long. and we can send teams there too..

If an aircraft crashes in "the right place", it can remain buried inside a glacier for a very long time. Remains from two air india flights that crashed into the same mountain in the french alps in 1950 and 1966 took 25-50 years to make it from the (known) crash site to the snout of the glacier, even though the glacier there is alot shorter and steeper (= faster moving) than many in the karakoram or himalayas.

And that's by no means exceptional, see for example this swiss news item (if you don't know german, just watch the pictures), about a married couple that went missing in 1942 and was only found after they thawed out of a (small!) glacier in 2018, 75 years later.

Not to mention this guy, who spent 5000+ years in the ice before being found in 1991.

[Abbas Ali]

SAETA Vickers Viscount 785D registration HC-ARS crashed on stratovolcano Chimborazo in Ecuador on August 15, 1976.

Wreckage and frozen bodies found twenty-six years later by mountain climbers on October 17, 2002. Wreckage identity confirmed by August 1976 newspapers found at the site.



https://aviation-safety.net/database/re ... 19760815-0

Abbas