There is a brotherhood whose members know, every time they take off, the names of those who never landed.
On 30 July 2019, an aircraft of the Pakistan Army went down near Rawalpindi. Lieutenant Colonel Waseem Hayat Shaheed — 90 Long Course, 56 Aviation — embraced shahadat that day. He was not alone. Lieutenant Colonel Saqib Faraz Shaheed — 89 Long Course, 28 Baloch, 56 Aviation — fell with him, along with three brave soldiers: Naib Subedar Afzal Shaheed, Havildar Ibne Ameen Shaheed, and Havildar Rehmat Shaheed.
Two lieutenant colonels and three soldiers. Five families received the same shattering news on the same day.
Five Men, One Aircraft
Army Aviation’s pilots and crews fly in some of the most unforgiving conditions imaginable — over mountains, in bad weather, on rescue and supply missions where no one else can go. Every flight carries risk. The men who accept it do so knowingly, because the mission demands it.
That two lieutenant colonels were aboard the same aircraft says something about the culture of Army Aviation: senior officers fly the missions themselves. They do not send their juniors into risks they would not take. Lt Col Waseem Hayat and Lt Col Saqib Faraz — of the 90 and 89 Long Courses — led from the cockpit. They fell as they had served: together, in the air, on duty.
Behind the ranks were men with families, careers, and plans for the future that ended on the 30th of July 2019 near Rawalpindi. Nb Sub Afzal, Hav Ibne Ameen, Hav Rehmat — the soldiers who crewed and supported the mission — stood in the same danger as the officers they served with. They are honoured in the same breath.
The Original Tribute
The tribute shared on the seventh anniversary of the crash reads:
Today is 7th shahadat anniversary of Lt Col Waseem Hayat Shaheed 90L/C ex 56Avn and Lt Col Saqib Faraz Shaheed 89L/C ex 28BR/56Avn. On 30 July 2019, both embraced shahadat in an Aircraft crash near Rawalpindi, along with: Naib Sub. Afzal Shaheed, Hav Ibne Ameen Shaheed, Hav Rehmat Shaheed.
The Fraternity of Those Who Fly
Every year on 30 July, the anniversary is observed — the seventh in 2026. The aviation community is a tight-knit fraternity, and it keeps its fallen in a special way: every pilot who takes off knows the names of those who never landed.
There is a particular bond among those who fly. It is forged in the shared knowledge that the machine can fail, the weather can turn, the mountain does not move — and the mission goes ahead anyway. When an aircraft goes down, the loss is felt not just as the death of comrades but as the confirmation of a risk every aviator has already accepted for himself. Every man standing at the memorial knows it could have been his name on the plaque.
The Army’s aviation arm is small enough that every loss is personal, and large enough that its work touches every operation — from the peaks of Siachen to the deserts of the south, from flood relief to the evacuation of the wounded. The five men lost near Rawalpindi were part of that indispensable whole. Their absence left a gap that could be filled on paper but never in the hearts of those who flew with them.
We salute Lt Col Waseem Hayat Shaheed, Lt Col Saqib Faraz Shaheed, Nb Sub Afzal Shaheed, Hav Ibne Ameen Shaheed, and Hav Rehmat Shaheed. They flew for Pakistan — and the aviation fraternity they served will honour them always.
