What Will You Do If ATC Refuses Permission to Land and the Fuel Gauge Reads Almost Zero?

The first question is easy for me to answer as an always-economy-class passenger:

The pilot will crash-land the airplane at the earliest possible moment. I will be sitting there in the economy class with prayers on my lips, oxygen mask wrapped around my lower face, crouching in fetal position . What will happen to me at the time of impact is entirely a different matter.

I have ready-made answers for the second question that such things don't happen in USA and to Presidential One and so on.

But, for a foreign ruler in flesh and blood who is actually refused landing permission on his own land with near-zero fuel gauges and red warning lights glaring at his face, the answer cannot be left to his pilot.

Because, there is no question of any crash-landing as ack-ack guns would have already started to spin and roar, spewing fireballs.

Even if there is enough fuel in the tanks, the neighboring country may be reluctant to offer refuge due to already strained relationship or to avoid future wars.

Why all this monologue?

Whenever I hear of airplanes running out of fuel, the picture of President Pervez Musharaff of Pakistan comes to my mind. Almost a decade later, he is no more a President in that country.

In the recent history of the world, there were only two Heads of States who faced this life and death situation high in the skies, requiring their split-second decisions. In both cases, the respective aircraft were made to circle the skies for long time by their enemies to makes sure they ran out of fuel and the inevitable happened!

But sometimes what is inevitable for man is not so for God.

The first to land in that situation was King Hassan of Morocco.

King Hassan was not too colorful a personality for the American media as they preferred the types of Shah of Iran for news value.

Nevertheless, Hassan was more in control of his own affairs, more useful and practical for the world and for US foreign policy.

He was the first mediator who brought the Israelis and the Arabs together face-to-face around the same table. He was also the first leader to bring the Arabs together so that the world knew whom to talk to and what mattered most to the Arabs in the Middle East from the myriad interests of their tribes.

That was the year 1972. King Hassan was returning from a state visit abroad when his own air force made his plane circumnavigate the sky over Rabat and then started firing at it.

Having weathered many a storm as the Crown Prince to his father, including exile by the French colonialists in his youth, Hassan's response was quick.

He ran into the cockpit, grabbed the pilot's radio and announced "his own" death to the control tower:

"Reporting the death of His Majesty the King from the firing. Requesting permission to land with his body."

Permission was granted and the "dead" king walked safely into the waiting hands of the worried royal family and the loyal palace officials. He correctly calculated that the rebels were conveniently located away from the airport at their "vantage firing points" and took a gamble. His enemies forgot to strafe the runway as he was already "dead".

And King Hassan lived many more years rendering great service as a peacemaker to the world until he died a natural death in 1999, despite further assassination attempts.

That year the second incident happened over the skies of Pakistan.

Unlike Hassan of Morocco, Pervez Musharaff was not the ruler of Pakistan when he faced his death-defying situation in the skies. But what happened in the skies made him the ruler within hours.

He was then the Army Chief returning from an official visit abroad. Until then he did not have any wild ambitions of becoming a President through coups unlike his predecessors. Only that he had some difference of opinion with country's Premier Nawaz Sherriff. But, if your adversary hates you more than you hate him, you are in deep trouble even if you don't want it. Ironically, it was Sheriff himself who promoted Musharaff to the top army position.

Pervez Musharaff's plane was denied permission to land. Then, he force-landed the aircraft in Karachi where his loyal generals had already captured and secured the airport to save him from sure death. He then proceeded with them to the capital Rawalpindi and seized power from Nawaz Sheriff through a bloodless coup. Like Hassan, he too had his measure of assassination attempts later.

Unfortunately for Pakistan, Nawaz Sheriff knows only the politics of revenge. Tenures in democracies are too short to waste away in getting rid of opponents. Much needs to be done for the people.

The only redeeming presence today is that of Asif Zardari who was a businessman but was forced into politics by a sad chain of events - incarceration, exile and the death of his wife Benazir Bhutto. Unlike Sheriff, he has suffered for many decades along with his children from the political opponents of the Bhutto dynasty - both from successive civilian and martial rulers.

As can be expected, Zardari's postures are more mellowed and conciliatory - a healing touch much needed for a country that had only fleeting moments of democracy in its half a century of history after the demise of its colorful founder, Mohamed Ali Jinnah.

At least, Pakistan is fortunate that they have a rallying point in Zardari to leave the politics of hate behind and move forward into a new era of sustainable democracy bringing everybody together.

Nobody can deny the fact that Pervez Musharaff, despite all his shortcomings, did an admirable tightrope walk meeting conflicting demands of the world, country and religion.