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Pathankot Strike
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Air Life
His first take-off in a WW-II Harvard was a feeling he described as "euphoric, difficult to encapsulate in words." When his instructor uttered the magic words, "You have the controls," Haider described it as a dream come true. He experienced his first loop and his first blackout. An "incredible feeling" overcame him: a sense of freedom and self-esteem.
Despite the euphoria of the experience, the day concluded with a "desert safari"—a one-mile disciplinary walk in the blazing sun slinging a heavy parachute, a punishment earned at the "Finger Point" for Haider's habit of resting his elbow on the cockpit's canopy rail.
The course distinguished Risalpur history with an approximately 80% pass rate. On "The Big Day," receiving the pin of the flying wing was a moment wedged in memory.
Sajad’s fighter training was conducted on the dual Fury, and it was then that he had his first altercation and almost resigned. But his Squadron leader Ashraf Chaudhry tore up the resignation, saying, "Go, boy, and fly well, you will make a fine fighter pilot." He placed second in the conversion course, behind Sarfraz Rafiqui, a martyr of the 1965 war. He was then posted to No. 14 Fighter Bomber Squadron in Peshawar.
S. Sajad Haider
SAVIOUR OF LAHORE
War of 1965
Sajad Haider often lauded as the Saviour of Lahore and one of the key heroes of the 1965 War, led the Sherdils of No. 19 Squadron PAF as Squadron Leader.
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