Cessna 172 Crash Near Islamabad International Airport (AP-BLO)

Incident Overview and Flight Details On 16 August 2025, a Cessna 172R aircraft, registration AP-BLO, operated by Askari Flying Academy (AFA), departed from Islamabad International Airport (IIAP) for an instrument flying training flight. The sortie was intended to practice Instrument Landing System (ILS) approaches at the airport. The aircraft was the fourth mission of the day, flown by one instructor pilot and one trainee pilot. The flight plan was filed for a two-hour duration with 4.5 hours of fuel endurance. The aircraft had previously been used earlier that day for the first training mission by the same instructor. The trainee pilot served as Pilot Flying (PF), while the instructor acted as Pilot Monitoring (PM). A brief and informal pre-flight briefing was conducted before departure. The aircraft received start-up clearance at 13:16:47 UTC and taxied from the state apron at 13:24:10 UTC. Take-off clearance was issued at 13:29:23 UTC, and the aircraft commenced its take-off roll at 13:31:01 UTC from Runway 28R.