KARACHI: 17-year-old American-Pakistani pilot Haris Suleman, who was attempting a world record of travelling around the world in 30 days to raise money for the education of underprivileged children in Pakistan, has tragically died, after the single-engine Hawker Beechcraft Bonanza plane he was flying along with his father- Babar Suleman, an experienced private pilot, crashed into the sea on the last leg of his long journey from Hawaii to California on Wednesday, 23 July.
Haris, had only recently got his private pilots licence, but had been flying with his father since he was a little boy. Hariss uncle Air Vice Marshal Abid Rao confirmed to The Express Tribune that the plane, crashed near Pago Pago Island when the father son duo had left it for Hawaii. We are very sad. It was the last leg of their trip, a journey of 13-14 hours. But their plane crashed within two minutes after they took off. He said that the incident took place between 6 to 6:30 pm PST. While Haris’ body has been recovered, that of Babar and the plane wreckage is yet to be located.
Dawn reports that after starting their journey from Plainfield, Indi¬a¬na, in the US, on June 19, the father and son visited Canada, Iceland, England, Greece, Egypt and the UAE before reaching Pakistan, where they received a warm welcome at Karachi airport on July 1. From Pakistan they headed towards Bangladesh, Indonesia, Australia, Fiji, American Samoa, Kiribati and were on the last leg of their journey from Hawaii to California when their plane crashed.
Since it is not recommended for single-engine planes to make ocean voyages, and since 60 per cent of the trip was over the oceans, including the Atlantic, Pacific and parts of the Indian Ocean, Haris and his father had taken a sea survival course to know what to do in the event of a mishap.
Speaking to the media at Karachi airport, Haris had said that he was a bit nervous about flying over the sea, especially during their longest 13-hour stretch from Hawaii to California. In order to be able to make the long voyage, Mr Suleman had to fix an extra fuel tank in the plane. Their plane had been stocked with relief equipment life rafts, and gumby suits for ocean survival in the event of an ocean landing. Gumby suits are only worn by the pilots while flying over water for extended periods of time. This, however, seems to not have provided them protection from a crash. On the home stretch, the father and son duo had not found any fuel in Kiritimati and had flown from New Caledonia to Pago Pago where they had topped up with fuel for the 17 hour flight to Honolulu.
Mian Washim, a Pakistani-American businessman and a close family friend of the Suleman family told The Express Tribune that there was no indication as to why the crash happened except that the crash site was about one mile from the end of the runway and out to sea.
It is very unlikely they had reached an altitude that enabled them to contact the Air Traffic Control in Samoa, Washim said.
The area [where plane crashed] is in the New Zealand SAR region and it was New Zealand SAR that received a distress signal from the aircraft. The timing of the signal (possibly a satellite ping) put it very close to the crash site when transmitted.
Hariss body was found soon after the arrival of the rescue boat sent from the islands Fire and Crash service. There was an active locator beacon working but no information as to whether it was attached to Hariss life jacket or not.
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