On August 25, 1989, Pakistan International Airlines Flight 404 departed Gilgit for Islamabad aboard a Fokker F27-200 Friendship. It should have been a routine domestic flight, but within minutes, the aircraft and all 54 people aboard would disappear into one of aviation’s most enduring mysteries. More than three decades later, neither the aircraft nor a single confirmed piece of wreckage has been found.
The aircraft, registered AP-BBF, was a Fokker F27-200 turboprop built in 1962. It had accumulated approximately 44,524 flight hours and 41,524 cycles by the time of the disappearance. On that August morning, it carried 49 passengers and five crew members. Its destination was Islamabad, roughly 175–190 miles away, and the scheduled flight was expected to take less than an hour.
At approximately 7:36 a.m., Flight 404 lifted off from Gilgit Airport. The airport sits in a spectacular but extremely challenging mountainous region, surrounded by some of the world’s highest peaks. The flight was heading south toward Islamabad.
About four minutes after departure, at 7:40 a.m., the crew made a routine radio transmission. There was nothing in the communication to indicate an emergency. The crew gave normal flight information, including their expected position and arrival timing. It would become the last known communication ever received from the aircraft.
Then, Flight 404 simply vanished.
Air traffic controllers attempted to contact the aircraft again, but there was no response. The aircraft did not arrive at Islamabad, and no distress call was received. There was also no confirmed report of an explosion, mechanical emergency or other event immediately preceding the disappearance.
Because the aircraft had disappeared over some of the most rugged terrain on Earth, attention quickly turned toward the surrounding Himalayan and Karakoram mountains. A massive search operation began. Pakistani military aircraft, including C-130 transports and helicopters, searched the suspected areas during the first several days. Civilian aircraft also participated…
