A PIA ACCOMPLISHMENT 1962: Capt. Abdullah Baig and Capt. Mirza Taimur Baig welcomed with garlands at Karachi Airport after completing speed record breaking flight from London to Karachi on January 2, 1962 with PIA’s brand new Boeing 720-040B (AP-AMG) on its delivery flight. PIA’s dynamic Managing Director Malik Nur Khan is also seen in this photo; Photo courtesy of M.T. Baig Family Collection.

Mohammad Syed Husain The winds were favourable for the flight. They encountered a jet stream which helped them along (tailwind). A jet stream is/are band(s) of air circling the Earth where the troposphere meets the stratosphere, about 35,000 feet at the equator and around 29,000 feet at the poles. This area is known as the tropopause. The temperature falls with height in the troposphere whereas it remain constant in the stratosphere at minus 56.5 Celsius. This variation in temperature sets up these bands of air whose velocities may exceed 100 mph at a conservative estimate. They must have had a good weather briefing on departure because they also carried a French representative of the Aeronatique International (FAI). So the speed record attempt was planned. I think the time was 6 hours and 53 minutes and some seconds. The record still stands.