TIME COMES AND GOES BUT THERE WERE AND THERE ARE SO STRANGE THINGS THAT HAD HAPPENED THAT WHEN I TRY TO REMEMBER THE FEELINGS OF THAT TIME WHEN THAT PARTICULAR EVENT OCCURRED TO ME I MYSELF GET IN DOUBT WAS IT REAL OR WAS IT AN ILLUSION?? BUT AS I HAVE THE PROOF OF THAT PARTICULAR TIME I PROUDLY CAN TELL THE TRUTH WITHOUT ANY PLUS-MINUS BUT AS I ADMIT I AM NOT A GOOD WRITER SO THE TRUE STORY SOMETIMES SOUNDS LIKE A FAKE ONE ANYWAY READ THIS STORY OR LISTEN AND JUDGE FOR YOURSELF WHAT STRANGE THINGS HAD HAPPENED TO SHUJAT ALI ABBASI
This is the story of my early days in SAUDIA when i was hired as mechanic 1 in SPECIAL FLIGHT SERVICES of Saudi Arabian Airlines
It was the year 1980 I was stable in my job as the senior mechanic Mr. Dick Pearson had taken my class so well that everybody was surprised at my progress and i was going very well in the aircraft G2 MAINTENANCE for some people and for some I became intolerable and that was the main reason I took a transfer to the big hanger of tristar of the MAJOR BASE but AS I WILL only emphasize on this story as there are many to tell and life is short
But it requires more explanation I will concentrate on this present story
You know I was new in that group of people so I was very obedient and accepting of their needs this story is a story of strange and unbelievable things which happened that one night yes that night was the best of all my aviation engineering career and technical life the night was the night I wish I see again but time flies off and memories of the events put me in a such condition not understandable by anyone but only myself
I was a rolling stone being the junior but that night made me the star of unexpected and unbelievable history now
It was midnight on 31 Dec 1980 and the new year of 1981 was going to start
My duty started at 2200 of 31 dec 1980 and had to finish 01 jan 1981 my friends & the general foreman my immediate supervisor who were around me working with me told that hai ABBAS Tonight IS a very important night as we are assigning you as the night supervisor only for tonight we will see how you handle the things as few of us will just enjoy the happy new year and you are the boss tonight well I was astonished but there was no other way too but nobody told me that it’s going to be the heaviest and very responsible as well as remarkable night involvement wise unbelievable aircraft arrival and departure took place as there was a big conference ( The third Islamic Summit Conference) which was held at Taif (Saudi Arabia) and lot of VVIP movement was expected through SPECIAL FLIGHT SERVICES which comprised of our fleet of grumens G2 aircrafts AND THAT’S WHAT HAPPENED I was involved fully in receiving get the aircraft refueled and departure as well In total I handle more than 10 sorties of G2 arrival and departure from and to different countries and was very remarkable for me to serve crew of different nationalities as you all know that when the crew get some ground time they also wish to talk with the ground crew as well so it was a pleasant atmosphere and a night which will be remembered and that everything was very smoothly done The remarkable thing happened when a senior pilot of another country politely tried to correct the work by pointing the column for maintenance signature hold my hand and stopping me from signing on the log book and try to correct it by describing the columns for date written and column for maintenance ( work performed or remarks) signature he thought may be I am not aware and that
I don’t know anything as he never saw me so active like that night that never had the chance to release the log book before (you know many pilots or flight engineer have some kind of supremacy ((supermissy)) feeling on ground crew ) and may be my face was new for him and with a commanding tone he start telling me that this column of the log book is for date and this column is for maintenance mechanic number and for the signature and I was making continuous mistakes I looked at him and told sir today is 01 jan 1981 and i am writing that correct date then he said why then you are writing 1181 again and i had to explain sir this is my mechanic number too that was M1181 GIVEN BY SAUDI AUTHORITIES AS I WAS CERTIFIED MECHANIC AND TO MY SECOND SURPRISE HE SAID CAN YOU SIGN ONE MORE FOR me on MY personal LOG BOOK AND i did it it was like this 1.1.81/M1181 HE ALSO SHOOK MY shoulder and SHOOK HAND AND SMILED he folded that another paper which he kept in his bag and said THIS IS YOUR goodluck number well that night i became famous as every refueling slip and all the documents related to aircraft work was M1181 IN DOZEN OF SHEETS also REFUELING SHEETS record for refueling service providers in the morning they congratulated me for the successful night operation which was performed under my command …yes almost alone with some cleaner helper the other AIRCRAFT CERTIFIED maintenance crew were on a new year private gathering in their residential compound of saudia airline name known as SAUDIA CITY (KHALIDIYA JEDDAH) so i should not bring this funny comparison but it was something like HOME ALONE(HANGAR ALONE) but there a single boy was facing strangers and handling accordingly and here ….i was
handling incoming GRUMMAN GULFSTREAM G2 and G3 or CESSNA CITATION aircrafts sortie PROVIDING all kinds of ground support like refueling inspecting the required items and also marshaling coordination of commissary service (this kind of operation the first and in my life was an overexposure of my abilities (AN ADVERSE FEELING WAS AROUSE its true when you go up you expose your*** for more ******** as the news was spread in my circle that for Taif Islamic summit conference night ABBASI .. M1181 TOOK THE ,,,,,,,,,, WELL FIX ANY VERB OR ADJECTIVE IN THIS SPACE as i always write and say life goes on nobody remember the good things performed and praised for but people don’t forget the things as well which are adverse … ( ISLAMIC SUMMIT CONFERENCE OF 1981) can be checked through GOOGLE search FOR LOCATION and date accomplish 01 JAN 1981 (1-1-81)and my sign off MAINTENANCE NUMBER WAS M1181 .. do you believe in NUMBER GAME THEN WHY THE M1181 JUST GOT FAMOUS ON 1-1-81 ANY IDEA
Story of M1181
It was a remarkable day on January 01 / 1981 .https://youtu.be/XPB3FjooXsQ