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47-799: Pilot Officer Rashid Minhas NH ( Urdu : راشد منہاس ) was a Pakistani fighter pilot and the fifth recipient of Pakistan's highest military award, the Nishan-e-Haider . Minhas was the first and only officer from the Pakistan Air Force to receive the Nishan-e-Haider, and was also the youngest person and the shortest-serving officer to have received the award. During a routine training mission in August 1971, Minhas attempted to gain control of his jet trainer when his superior officer Flight Lieutenant Matiur Rahman hijacked

94-654: A V-tail ruddervator , flaperons , or elevons , because these various combined-purpose control surfaces control rotation about the same three axes in space, the aircraft's flight control system will still be designed so that the stick or yoke controls pitch and roll conventionally, as will the rudder pedals for yaw. The basic pattern for modern flight controls was pioneered by French aviation figure Robert Esnault-Pelterie , with fellow French aviator Louis Blériot popularizing Esnault-Pelterie's control format initially on Louis' Blériot VIII monoplane in April 1908, and standardizing

141-421: A back-up electrical power supply that can be activated to enable the stick shaker in case of hydraulic failure. In most current systems the power is provided to the control actuators by high-pressure hydraulic systems. In fly-by-wire systems the valves, which control these systems, are activated by electrical signals. In power-by-wire systems, electrical actuators are used in favour of hydraulic pistons. The power

188-433: A collection of mechanical parts such as pushrods, tension cables, pulleys, counterweights, and sometimes chains to transmit the forces applied to the cockpit controls directly to the control surfaces. Turnbuckles are often used to adjust control cable tension. The Cessna Skyhawk is a typical example of an aircraft that uses this type of system. Gust locks are often used on parked aircraft with mechanical systems to protect

235-461: A control causes the mechanical circuit to open the matching servo valve in the hydraulic circuit. The hydraulic circuit powers the actuators which then move the control surfaces. As the actuator moves, the servo valve is closed by a mechanical feedback linkage - one that stops movement of the control surface at the desired position. This arrangement was found in the older-designed jet transports and in some high-performance aircraft. Examples include

282-707: A wing surface can change shape in flight to deflect air flow much like an ornithopter . Adaptive compliant wings are a military and commercial effort. The X-53 Active Aeroelastic Wing was a US Air Force, NASA , and Boeing effort. Notable efforts have also been made by FlexSys, who have conducted flight tests using flexible aerofoils retrofitted to a Gulf stream III aircraft. In active flow control systems, forces in vehicles occur via circulation control, in which larger and more complex mechanical parts are replaced by smaller, simpler fluidic systems (slots which emit air flows) where larger forces in fluids are diverted by smaller jets or flows of fluid intermittently, to change

329-481: A writer for Pakistan Military Consortium, relayed in 2004 that he spoke to retired PAF Group Captain Cecil Chaudhry about Minhas and that he learned more details not generally known to the public. According to Mazhar, Chaudhry led the immediate task of investigating the wreckage and writing the accident report. Chaudhry told Mazhar that he found the jet had hit the ground nose first, instantly killing Minhas in

376-541: Is a junior officer rank used by some air forces, with origins from the Royal Air Force . The rank is used by air forces of many countries that have historical British influence . Pilot officer is the lowest ranking commissioned officer immediately below flying officer . It is usually equivalent to the rank of second lieutenant in other services. The equivalent rank in the Women's Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF)

423-485: Is carried to the actuators by electrical cables. These are lighter than hydraulic pipes, easier to install and maintain, and more reliable. Elements of the F-35 flight control system are power-by-wire. The actuators in such an electro-hydrostatic actuation (EHA) system are self-contained hydraulic devices, small closed-circuit hydraulic systems. The overall aim is towards more- or all-electric aircraft and an early example of

470-641: The Antonov An-225 and the Lockheed SR-71 . With purely mechanical flight control systems, the aerodynamic forces on the control surfaces are transmitted through the mechanisms and are felt directly by the pilot, allowing tactile feedback of airspeed. With hydromechanical flight control systems, the load on the surfaces cannot be felt and there is a risk of overstressing the aircraft through excessive control surface movement. To overcome this problem, artificial feel systems can be used. For example, for

517-554: The Bangladesh Liberation War , along with the jet trainer. In the air, Minhas struggled physically to wrest control from Rahman; both men tried to overpower the other through the mechanically linked flight controls . Some 32 miles (51 km) from the Indian border, the jet crashed near Thatta . Both men were killed. Minhas was posthumously awarded Pakistan's top military honour, the Nishan-e-Haider , and became

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564-673: The O-level and A-level qualifications from the St. Patrick's High School . His father, Majeed Minhas, wanted his son, Rashid, to follow his step by attending the engineering university and strongly desired for his son to gain a degree in engineering after finishing his high schooling in Karachi. Against the wishes of his father, Rashid entered in the PAF School in Lower Topa in 1968,

611-535: The Wright Flyer I , Blériot XI and Fokker Eindecker used a system of wing warping where no conventionally hinged control surfaces were used on the wing, and sometimes not even for pitch control as on the Wright Flyer I and original versions of the 1909 Etrich Taube , which only had a hinged/pivoting rudder in addition to the warping-operated pitch and roll controls. A manual flight control system uses

658-458: The 152 and 172), and in some the roll is controlled by sliding the whole yoke to the left and right (like the Cessna 162). Centre sticks also vary between aircraft. Some are directly connected to the control surfaces using cables, others (fly-by-wire airplanes) have a computer in between which then controls the electrical actuators. Even when an aircraft uses variant flight control surfaces such as

705-538: The Air Force's officer candidate school , and forwarded towards completing his military training at the Pakistan Air Force Academy in 1969. Having joined the air force, Minhas began training to become a pilot. On 20 August of that year, in the hour before noon, he was getting ready to take off in a T-33 jet trainer in Karachi, Pakistan. His second solo flight in that type of aircraft. Minhas

752-577: The LTV A-7 Corsair II warplanes, a 'bob-weight' was used in the pitch axis of the control stick, giving force feedback that was proportional to the airplane's normal acceleration. A stick shaker is a device that is attached to the control column in some hydraulic aircraft. It shakes the control column when the aircraft is approaching stall conditions. Some aircraft such as the McDonnell Douglas DC-10 are equipped with

799-499: The RAF. The rank insignia consists of a thin blue band on slightly wider black band. This is worn on both the lower sleeves of the tunic or on the shoulders of the flying suit or the casual uniform. Although no current Royal Navy rank has an insignia of a single half width ring, a pilot officer's mess insignia of one thin band of gold running around each cuff is similar to the insignia formerly worn by Royal Navy warrant officers. As with

846-498: The RAF. Consideration was given to renaming second lieutenants as ensigns . However, when the RAF's own rank structure was introduced in August 1919, RAF second lieutenants who were qualified pilots were re-designated as pilot officers, a rank which has been in continuous use ever since. Those who were not qualified pilots were redesignated observer officers , but this was later phased out and all officers of this rank became pilot officers. The rank of pilot officer does not imply that

893-470: The aircraft and having taken off, headed the aircraft towards India. With just some 40 miles of Pakistan territory remaining, Minhas had only one course open to him to prevent his aircraft from entering India. Without hesitation, and living up to the highest traditions of the Pakistan Air Force, Rashid Minhas tried to regain control of his aircraft, but finding this to be impossible in the face of

940-558: The approach was the Avro Vulcan . Serious consideration was given to using the approach on the Airbus A380. A fly-by-wire (FBW) system replaces manual flight control of an aircraft with an electronic interface. The movements of flight controls are converted to electronic signals transmitted by wires (hence the term fly-by-wire ), and flight control computers determine how to move the actuators at each control surface to provide

987-503: The control surfaces and linkages from damage from wind. Some aircraft have gust locks fitted as part of the control system. Increases in the control surface area, and the higher airspeeds required by faster aircraft resulted in higher aerodynamic loads on the flight control systems. As a result, the forces required to move them also become significantly larger. Consequently, complicated mechanical gearing arrangements were developed to extract maximum mechanical advantage in order to reduce

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1034-438: The control surfaces reducing the amount of mechanical forces needed. This arrangement was used in early piston-engined transport aircraft and in early jet transports. The Boeing 737 incorporates a system, whereby in the unlikely event of total hydraulic system failure, it automatically and seamlessly reverts to being controlled via servo-tab. The complexity and weight of mechanical flight control systems increase considerably with

1081-603: The controls of the RAF 's Avro Vulcan jet bomber and the RCAF 's Avro Canada CF-105 Arrow supersonic interceptor (both 1950s-era designs), the required force feedback was achieved by a spring device. The fulcrum of this device was moved in proportion to the square of the air speed (for the elevators) to give increased resistance at higher speeds. For the controls of the American Vought F-8 Crusader and

1128-497: The end of pilot training. As they retained their commissions in their customary ranks (usually second lieutenant or lieutenant), and many of them had been seconded from their ground units, the designation of pilot officer was a position title rather than a rank. On 1 April 1918, the newly created RAF adopted its officer rank titles from the British Army , with Royal Flying Corps second lieutenants becoming second lieutenants in

1175-410: The expected response. Commands from the computers are also input without the pilot's knowledge to stabilize the aircraft and perform other tasks. Electronics for aircraft flight control systems are part of the field known as avionics . Fly-by-optics, also known as fly-by-light , is a further development using fiber-optic cables . Several technology research and development efforts exist to integrate

1222-461: The forces required from the pilots. This arrangement can be found on bigger or higher performance propeller aircraft such as the Fokker 50 . Some mechanical flight control systems use servo tabs that provide aerodynamic assistance. Servo tabs are small surfaces hinged to the control surfaces. The flight control mechanisms move these tabs, aerodynamic forces in turn move, or assist the movement of

1269-451: The format on the July 1909 Channel-crossing Blériot XI . Flight control has long been taught in such fashion for many decades, as popularized in ab initio instructional books such as the 1944 work Stick and Rudder . In some aircraft, the control surfaces are not manipulated with a linkage. In ultralight aircraft and motorized hang gliders, for example, there is no mechanism at all. Instead,

1316-431: The front seat. Rahman's body, however, was not in the jet and the canopy was missing. Chaudhry searched the area and saw Rahman's body some distance behind the jet, the body found with severe abrasions from hitting the sand at a low angle and a high speed. Chaudhry thought that Minhas probably jettisoned the canopy at low altitude causing Rahman to be thrown from the cockpit because he was not strapped in. Chaudhry felt that

1363-608: The functions of flight control systems such as ailerons , elevators , elevons , flaps , and flaperons into wings to perform the aerodynamic purpose with the advantages of less: mass, cost, drag, inertia (for faster, stronger control response), complexity (mechanically simpler, fewer moving parts or surfaces, less maintenance), and radar cross section for stealth . These may be used in many unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and 6th generation fighter aircraft . Two promising approaches are flexible wings, and fluidics. In flexible wings, also known as "morphing aerofoils", much or all of

1410-412: The jet was too close to the ground at that time, too far out of control for Minhas to be able to prevent the crash. PLT OFFR RASHID MINHAS On the morning of Friday, 20th August, 1971, Pilot Officer Rashid Minhas, a pilot still under training, was in the front seat of a jet trainer, taxing out for take off. An instructor pilot from the same unit forced his way into the rear cockpit, seized control of

1457-551: The mess insignia for other RAF officer ranks, the band of gold does not have the Royal Navy's loop. Aircraft flight control system#Primary controls The fundamentals of aircraft controls are explained in flight dynamics . This article centers on the operating mechanisms of the flight controls. The basic system in use on aircraft first appeared in a readily recognizable form as early as April 1908, on Louis Blériot 's Blériot VIII pioneer-era monoplane design. Generally,

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1504-480: The officer is aircrew. Following reforms to the Royal Air Force's promotion system, wherein previously, university graduates passed out of RAF Cranwell at a higher substantive rank than their non-graduate peers, pilot officer rank is now only applicable to ground branches. Aircrew and engineers receive their commissions as flying officers and skip the rank altogether. A ground branch officer will remain in

1551-424: The pilot does not have to maintain constant backward or forward pressure to hold a specific pitch attitude (other types of trim, for rudder and ailerons , are common on larger aircraft but may also appear on smaller ones). Many aircraft have wing flaps , controlled by a switch or a mechanical lever or in some cases are fully automatic by computer control, which alter the shape of the wing for improved control at

1598-400: The pilot just grabs the lifting surface by hand (using a rigid frame that hangs from its underside) and moves it. In addition to the primary flight controls for roll, pitch, and yaw, there are often secondary controls available to give the pilot finer control over flight or to ease the workload. The most commonly available control is a wheel or other device to control elevator trim , so that

1645-490: The pilot officer rank for six months following commissioning, before an automatic promotion to flying officer. Because of the nature of phase II training (professional training after the phase I initial officer training), a pilot officer will generally spend time in rank on a further training course, and is not likely to be operationally active. Some students in the University Air Squadrons are promoted to

1692-605: The plane in an attempt to defect to India to join the Bangladesh Liberation War but crashed near the Thatta District, Sindh in Pakistan. Rashid Minhas was born on 17 February 1951 to Begum Rashida Minhas (1926-2021), at Karachi in a Punjabi Muslim Rajput family of the Minhas clan. Rashid Minhas spent his early childhood in Karachi. Later, the family shifted to Rawalpindi , and shifted back to Karachi . Minhas

1739-436: The primary cockpit flight controls are arranged as follows: The control yokes also vary greatly among aircraft. There are yokes where roll is controlled by rotating the yoke clockwise/counterclockwise (like steering a car) and pitch is controlled by moving the control column towards or away from the pilot, but in others the pitch is controlled by sliding the yoke into and out of the instrument panel (like most Cessnas, such as

1786-616: The rank of acting pilot officer (which includes a week-long course at RAF Cranwell) as part of the leadership element of their squadron. UAS students wear pilot officer rank insignia with officer's headdress and are commissioned into the Volunteer Reserve. Pilot officers are more likely to be found in the CCF and Air Training Corps organisations of the VR(T) branch, because they are likely to spend far longer in rank than those serving in

1833-497: The size and performance of the aircraft. Hydraulically powered control surfaces help to overcome these limitations. With hydraulic flight control systems, the aircraft's size and performance are limited by economics rather than a pilot's muscular strength. At first, only-partially boosted systems were used in which the pilot could still feel some of the aerodynamic loads on the control surfaces (feedback). A hydro-mechanical flight control system has two parts: The pilot's movement of

1880-425: The slower speeds used for take-off and landing. Other secondary flight control systems may include slats , spoilers , air brakes and variable-sweep wings . Mechanical or manually operated flight control systems are the most basic method of controlling an aircraft. They were used in early aircraft and are currently used in small aircraft where the aerodynamic forces are not excessive. Very early aircraft, such as

1927-567: The superior skill and experience of his instructor, forced the aircraft to crash at a point 32 miles from the Indian border. In doing so Pilot Officer Minhas deliberately made the supreme sacrifice for the honour of Pakistan and the service to which he belonged. For this act of heroism above and beyond the call of duty, the President of Pakistan is pleased to award the Nishan-i-Haider to Pilot Officer Rashid Minhas. After his death, Minhas

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1974-492: The youngest man and the only member of the Pakistan Air Force to win the award. Similarly, Rahman was honoured by Bangladesh with their highest military award, the Bir Sreshtho . Minhas's Pakistan military citation for the Nishan-e-Haider states that he "forced the aircraft to crash" to prevent Rahman from taking the jet to India. This is the official, popular and widely known version of how Minhas died. Yawar A. Mazhar,

2021-649: Was "company assistant", later renamed to "assistant section officer". The rank was used in the Royal Canadian Air Force until the 1968 unification of the Canadian Forces , when army-type rank titles were adopted. Canadian pilot officers then became second lieutenants . In official Canadian French usage, the rank title was sous-lieutenant d'aviation . In the Royal Flying Corps , officers were designated pilot officers at

2068-602: Was fascinated with aviation history and technology. He used to collect different models of aircraft and jets. He also attended St Patrick's High School, Karachi . The ancestors of Rashid Minhas were born in Qila Sobha Singh , East Punjab and later on they moved to Karachi and Rashid Minhas was born in Karachi . His father, Majeed Minhas, a civil engineer and an alumnus of the NED University in Karachi,

2115-599: Was honoured as a national hero. In his memory, the Pakistan Air Force base at Kamra was renamed PAF Base Minhas , often called Minhas-Kamra. In Karachi he was honoured by the naming of a main road, 'Rashid Minhas Road' ( Urdu : شاہراہ راشد منہاس ). A two- rupee postage stamp bearing his image was issued by Pakistan Post in December 2003; 500,000 were printed. (Emblem of the Lion) 1971 War Posthumously Pilot Officer Pilot officer ( Plt Off or P/O )

2162-591: Was in a construction management business who later moved to Lahore, Punjab , for the construction project. He was educated in Lahore and took admission in the British-managed St. Mary's School in Rawalpindi when his father found an employment opportunity. But later they permanently settled in Karachi. He passed and qualified for his Senior Cambridge examination and performed well while finishing

2209-483: Was taxiing toward the runway when a Bengali instructor pilot, Flight Lieutenant Matiur Rahman , signalled him to stop and then climbed into the instructor's seat. The jet took off and Rahman turned towards India. Minhas radioed PAF Base Masroor with the message that he was being hijacked . The air controller requested that he resend his message and he confirmed the hijacking. Later investigation showed that Rahman intended to defect to India to join his compatriots in

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