The first Naval Air Station, PNS MEHRAN is situated in Karachi, 10 KM from Quaid-e-Azam International Airport. Seaking helicopter was the first machine to fly from this Base. Atlantic and Alouette soon joined the Naval Air Arm. Naval Air Arm was earlier depended upon Pakistan Air Force and Pakistan Army to meet the training requirement of air and ground crew.

HISTORY

Commissioning Orders for PNS MERHAN was received in the office of the Commander Pakistan Fleet on the 13 th September 1975. Three ‘D' Class houses from PNS KARSAZ were taken over on 18 th and thereafter the MES put in their efforts to prepare the place and surroundings for housing and commissioning of PNS MEHRAN. The work was completed on 25 th , a day before PNS MEHRAN was formally commission i.e 26 th September 1975. PNS MERHAN was commissioned by the Vice Chief of Naval Staff Rear Admiral L N Mungavan. On the first day strength of PNS MEHRAN was 08 officers, 04 sailors and no aircraft. Although Seaking helicopters had been handed over to Pakistan Navy, they were still in England. The first Commanding Officer was then Captain S F Rab PN (P No 456). MEHRAN Base, since its inceptions, is efficiently supporting day and night operational activities of all the squadrons. Despite facing acute shortage in every sphere, Base has accomplished every single task assigned.

STATUS & UTILIZATION

Naval Air Arm is headed by Commander Naval Aviation (COMNAV). Under COMNAV there are four Head of Departments (HODs) namely Commander Air (Cdr Air), Commander Air Engineering Department (Cdr AED), Commanding Officer MEHRAN (CO MEH) and Officer Commanding Naval Aviation Training School (OC NATS).

There are six squadrons under Cdr Air namely P3C Squadron (28 Sqn), Atlantic Squadron (29 Sqn), Fokker Squadron (27 Sqn), Seaking Squadron (111 Sqn) and Alouette Squadron (333 Sqn). All the operational/flying activities of the base are controlled by Cdr Air through the Officer Commanding of each Squadron. Cdr Air is further assisted by ops staff working directly under him.

Cdr AED is responsible for the maintenance and technical efficiency of all the aircraft. Under him, there are various Group Officers (GOs) who assists him in this duty. Some of the prominent GOs are GO Control, GO Avionics, GO Aircraft Engineering, GO Ground Engineering and GO S/R Depott etc.

CO MEHRAN is responsible for providing all the logistic and administrative support to the aviation units under COMNAV. Under him is the typical infrastructure of a naval unit which includes EXO, Supply Officer, Gunnery Officer, Communication Officer etc.

OC NATS is responsible for all sort of aviation related training of Naval Air Arm. He is assisted by Training Cdr, Chief Flying Instructor (CFI) Rotary Wing, CFI Fixed wing and Chief Navigator Instructor (CNI). CFIs and CNI are further assisted by the Instructor Pilots and Instructor Navigators under them.

Staff Officer (Operations) and Staff Maintenance Officer are responsible for advising and assisting COMNAV on the matters related to Operations and Maintenance respectively.

Base Flight Safety Officer is responsible for ensuring that safe flying practices are being followed by the squadrons. Quality Assurance Officer ensures that required quality standards are being maintained by the maintainers and technical departments.

PN Air Arm is one of the three main arms of PN fleet. The existing inventory of PN Air Arm is as follows:

                       a. P3C
                       b. Atlantic
                       c. Fokker
                       d. Seaking
                       e. Alouette

Courses Offered & Course Duration:

                •   Sea survival/Dunker SWET course 4 weeks
                •   Helicopter Marshaller course 1 weeks
                •   Winch operator course
                •   Basic Air crewmen Course 10 weeks
                •   Crewmen instructor course (Allouette Aircraft) 4 weeks
                •   Crewmen instructor course (Seaking Aircraft) 8 weeks
                •   Basic Air Navigation Course 26 weeks + 60 hours
                •   Seaking Observer Conversion 13 weeks + 60 hours
                •   Tactical Coordinator (TACCO) 12 weeks + 70 hours
                •   Qualified Helicopter Instructor 14 weeks + 70 hours
                •   Qualified Navigation Instructor 18 weeks + 33 hours
                •   Qualified Observer Instructor 24 weeks + 30 hours
                •   Fokker Captain Course 24 weeks + 70 hours
                •   Atlantic Captain Course 17 weeks + 70 hours
                •   Alouette Conversion 24 weeks + 40 hours
                •   Seaking Conversion 24 weeks + 55 hours
                •   Basic Flight 21 weeks
                •   Helicopter Controller Course 6 weeks
                •   FDO Course (Flight Deck Officer) 1 week