Popstar pilot gets a scare over South Australia

Pakistani pop star Fakhr-e-Alam is currently in the skies with the aim of becoming the first from Pakistan to circumvent the globe in just 28 days. But over the South Australian town of Ceduna, he had to keep his plane airborne for a quarter of an hour because the runway lights were turned off.

Fakhr-e-Alam at Alice Springs airport Source: Twitter/Fakhr-e-Alam

Pakistani popstar Fakhr-e-Alam is en route to complete his flight across the globe.

Known for his local songs, hosting and acting, Alam has now taken to the skies after preparing for the 42,000-kilometre mission for the past three years.

Alam is aiming to complete the trip in just 28 days and he has so far travelled across the US, Canada, Greenland, Iceland, Scotland, England, Croatia, Egypt, Bahrain, UAE, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Thailand, Singapore, Indonesia.

'Childhood dream'

On his website, Alam talks about realising a childhood dream of becoming an air force pilot. However, he says that fate 'had other things in store' for him, spending nearly 25 years in the show business industry.  He says he was able to realise his childhood dream after obtaining his private pilot license in the US state of Florida in 2015.

Since commencing his journey on October 10 in his Pilatus PC-12 turboprop, the 42-year-old has been tweeting every leg of his journey on social media.

Australian journey

On his way across Australia, Mr Alam made his first stop at Port Hedland, Australia.

During the trip between Port Hedland and Ceduna, he tweeted of witnessing the beautiful landscapes, full moon and sunset.

However, when he reached close to Ceduna, the lights at the airport were off which caused a bit of concern.

“We had a bit of an issue. This is a bit of an uncontrolled airspace. This airport is very small.

"We tried the radio lights, on the frequency we were told.

“We were flying blind for about fifteen minutes. I couldn’t find were the runway was.”

"We spoke on the Unicom and finally, someone came and turned on the (airport) lights of the runway; so we made a landing,” Alam said.

Alam also spoke of his preference for Ceduna airport.

“It is an airfield in the middle of nowhere, which makes it cheap, affordable and the fuel is cheap here.

For my circumnavigation, I need to do 26,000 miles that is why we have to do these exact (flights) around.”

The Pakistani pilot then flew to Adelaide, Alice Springs and to Darwin where he was met by his fans.

The route taken by Fakhr-e-Alam on his mission around the world. Source: Mission Parwaaz website

Alam, together with his crew of two, is now flying to the Philippines, before touching bases at Thailand, Japan, Russia and then will make the final touch down in the US.

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