Why life is an adventure for this former pilot with a lineage
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Read the full story here: https://bit.ly/2Y3HPBz
See more videos at https://gulfnews.com/videos
Read more Gulf News stories here: https://bit.ly/2HLJ2km
Subscribe to Gulf News on YouTube and watch more of our videos: https://www.youtube.com/user/GulfNewsTV
#UAEnews #Dubai #business
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00:00I wish my father was here today. He would love to tell his, you know, his friends.
00:12He was very close to his Highness Sheikh Zayed. So, at the time of Sheikh Buth was the ruler and
00:30His Highness Sheikh Zayed wanted to make his country green. He loved agriculture
00:39too much and for that he, at that time there was a British rule here. So,
00:51the British Viceroy here used to be Sir Hugh Boasted.
01:02This I'm talking early 60s and we were young and I even remember speaking to him a few times.
01:12So, His Highness asked Sir Hugh Boasted that he would like to have a agriculture specialist if he can find him.
01:27My father was at that time doing his Masters in Agriculture in American University of Beirut, AUB.
01:39So, there the British Council somehow approached father and father was very adventurous
01:59like me and then he tried to find out more about it, where it is, what it was called,
02:07crucial states, our region at that time and he accepted it, the offer, not knowing where he is
02:18going and what father used to tell us is that His Highness Sheikh Zayed, Sultan-ul-Ahyan, he used
02:26to go out to Europe and different countries and he used to see greenery over there. He loved it
02:36and then he told father that I would like to make my country similar, green. How can you help and
02:48father was, you know, very energetic, optimistic and he says, I mean, I will do what I can
02:58and then at that time they had brought some consultants and some Britishers to see what can be done here.
03:12So, when their report came and they were all saying that, no, it's a very harsh climate here
03:19and you cannot really do it, cannot turn it green. So, father, I mean, he tells us
03:28that that day, I mean, my father was also there, so His Highness caught my father's hand and he says,
03:36Khan, you are with me, we will do it. I mean, he didn't believe the reports and then he
03:48encouraged father to do it and father said, yes, I will, I will, we will. Father came, I mean,
03:56from Pakistan, yeah, originally. From Karachi. From Karachi, yeah, yeah, but then we were all,
04:04you know, from that time we were all born and raised in the land and did all education
04:13stuff. I mean, initially I did my, some of my education in Pakistan also because there wasn't
04:21any good schools at that time here, at that time in 60s. Then His Highness sent me to England. I went
04:31for, I did my A-levels in England and then that time, you know, we were being raised and that time
04:45we were, there were very few people here and so I was very close to all His Highness's sons. I was
05:02Sheikh Sultan bin Zayed was like my age group and we were very close.
05:10Several times he used to come and pick me from my house
05:16and then Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed also used to play soccer. I was here in summer and I went to
05:24see His Highness Sheikh Sultan bin Zayed in his house, in his palace and he asked, I haven't seen
05:31you for a while, where were you, what was happening and then I told him I was, I'm studying in England
05:36doing A-levels and then he says, no, and under whose sponsorship and I told him education
05:44department. He said, no, you should be with us. He was the Commanding Chief of the Armed Forces at
05:51that time and you should go with our sponsorship. When I had joined and I was there and Sheikh
05:59Mohammed knew, so he had put my name as a fighter pilot, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed and
06:09but I had already started my education doing my aviation aircraft engineering.
06:19So, I did my flying as a hobby. I completed it but I didn't complete as a fighter pilot because
06:28I had already done, you know, in engineering. So, I had, I stayed in States till 87
06:39and in the seven years I did about seven different degrees. Then Sheikh Mohammed himself at that time
06:46we had started a new Gulf Aircraft Maintenance Company, GAMCO. So, he transferred me there to
07:00look after the UAE Air Force aircrafts etc and there also I spent some time and then I
07:11did some projects at that time. Then they started offset group which is now called Mabadala.
07:20So, some of the initial projects with them I did in GAMCO. I remember eight million dollars
07:30there was its initial A-Tech. We put some things in the aircraft testing
07:41equipment. That was a new technology. Finally, you know, it's long time of service there and
07:49in Air Force and then GAMCO. So, they are still running and doing very well.
07:56MashaAllah and then I had, now I'm a businessman.