Aircraft Boeing 747 AP-AYW was on a scheduled International flight from Lahore to Riyadh. During the pr -deparlure preparation of the navigation equipment, the pilots instead of selecting a radial of 231 degrees, selected 321 degrees on their Flight Director Systems, because of which the aircraft after take-off went in direction about 90 degrees away from the planned Afr Traffic Services (ATS) route. Sector Operation Centre (SOC) PAF located an unidentified aircraft on its radar en-route from Lahore to Islamabad. After confirmation from Lahore Flight Information Centre (FIC) of no known scheduled air traffic on this route. PAF scrambled fighter aircraft which identified the PIA Boeing 747 . The crew realized their mistake after about 27 minutes of flight at about Risalpur and altered course for correction to get back on the planned ATS route. They resumed normal navigation and landed at destination Riyadh without any further eventuality.
