From his Facebook feed, it’s clear that he was interested in folk music and nifty new technological devices. But most of all, Salehyar Janjua, the pilot of the the Pakistan International Airlines flight carrying 48 people that crashed near Abbottabad on Wednesday, loved to shoot aerial videos of Northern Pakistan.
“He always said that flying there rejuvenated him,” Farooq Ali, a friend of Janjua’s, told USA Today. “He was a very down-to-earth, humble person and I have lost a great friend in him.”
Muhammad Azam, the chairman of the airline told reporters that the Janjua had told flight controllers about engine problems at 16.09 local time (audio recording of the conversation: here) on Wednesday but in a few short minutes, the plane had vanished from the radar.
It’s clear that he was enthralled by the skies. Since May, Januja uploaded 146 videos on his YouTube channel capturing the gorgeous vistas he saw from the cockpit.
The last video (above) on his channel was uploaded on December 6 on Tuesday, the day before the crash, and showed views of the Babusar Pass. Here’s another video from the same flight from Gilgit to Islamabad.
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