Aga Khan Foundation Helicopter HB -XTA Bell 412-SP was on a routine flight to Gilgit carrying 06 passengers on 16th February, 2003. The Helicopter was flown by Capt.(Retd) Kaleem Bokhari (Captain) and Maj. (Retd) Raja Muhammad Fakhar ul Islam as co-pilot. The take off was initially planned at 0830 hours PST but because of reported bad weather enroute was delayed to 0900 hours and than subsequently to 0930 hours. The Helicopter finally took off at 0952 hrs PST and climbed to 6500 feet. The pilot encountered light rain and scattered clouds throughout the flight upto Pattan (SARPI). Approximately 5 miles short of Pattan the captain decided to return back to Islamabad after seeing low clouds in the valley ahead of Pattan. (SARPI) which is approximately 76 NM from Islamabad. The Helicopter made three precautionary landings (Not on prepared Helipads) during the return journey to Islamabad, one at Darba (approximately 65 NM from Islamabad) to check the vibrations, which were felt in the Helicopter, a second landing was made between G.T. Road and d1 ra Sharif approximately 10 NM west of the Islamabad Airport due to bad weather, this landing site was 03 Kms away from G.T. Road towards Golra Sharif near a small village known as Sarai Khurbooza. The third landing was made very close to G.T. Road approximately only 500 meters away and 2-3 KMs from tarnol gate towards Peshawar on G.T. Road. The Helicopter landed back safely at Islamabad airport at about 1434 hours PST.
