7Berkeh – Mobina Pezeshk: In the world calendar, April 26th is the World Pilot Day. In Iran, however, July 21st is named the National Pilot’s Day. This date provides an opportunity to review the list of Gerashi pilots in Iran and around the world.
Amazing news is that the number of pilots in Gerash is a little higher than the average in Iran and it implies the popularity of aviation profession among local people in our city. Let’s have a glance at some international and domestic statistics, too.
Unofficial statistics show that the proportion of the number of active pilots in Iran’s airlines is less than 0.5% over the globe. The share of foreign pilots in domestic airlines is nearly zero and over 90% of pilots are Iranian.
Also, according to unofficial statistics in Iran, one in every 44,000 people becomes a pilot. Considering this statistic, the city of Gerash has seven times more pilots than other cities. If we include those who have participated in training courses, this number increases even further. At least in the South of Fars, Gerash can is entitled to be called “The City of Pilots”! Here is a list of Gerashi pilots in Iran and around the world.
The highest position in the cockpit is that of the captain, and he is responsible for the overall affairs of the flight. Captains are recognized by four golden or silver stripes on their uniform shoulders. We have four Gerashi captains: Captain Nasser Hosseini, Captain Abbas Matin, Captain Mahmoud Azimi and Captain Farshad Atash-Afruz.
First officers (also known as a co-pilots) are distinguished by three golden or silver stripes on their uniform shoulders. Three Gerashi men are now working as first officers: Hamed Farhadi, Hamid Mahmoudzadeh and Mohsen Yousefi.
There are other Gerashis who have passed the courses but have not been employed as pilots yet. Mehdi Mohebbi, now living in the US, and Mohammad Matin, are still following the dream of becoming a pilot. Mohammad Sepehr and Mojtaba Maldar are now working in other professions.
Captain Hosseini: “I love trains more!”
Captain Naser Hosseini, who has just turned 63, is the most experienced pilot in Gerash. In 2019, he has been appointed as the Director General of Flight Operations at Sepehran Airlines in Shiraz and after 30 years of flying in the sky, he has been retired for three years now.
“My interest in this job was accidental. I made no decision for piloting and after graduation,” says Captain, “I studied mechanic engineering up to M.A. in Hungary. However, due to the fact that the aerospace university had not yet been established in Iran, I studied aviation in the USA”.
He adds, “I have flown multiple times with small training airplanes, a transport aircraft ATR, and Boeing 737 and Airbus 730.” He also explains about his longest flight: “One of my longest flights was almost 8 hours long. I have flown to London, Bangladesh, Paris, and so on. But I prefer flights within Iran, especially when my destinations were Ahvaz and Hamedan”, two popular big cities in Iran. Nonetheless, Captain Hosseini confides to us that he loves trains more than airplanes!
Captain Matin: “I was fond of piloting since childhood.”
Captain Abbas Matin, who is known as Younes among his fellow citizens, is still flying at the age of 51. It is now 22 years since he started working in this field.
“I had various flights to diverse destinations with Boeing 737, Fokker 100 and ATR 72”, Says Captain Matin, “my operational base has been Shiraz. I had between 80% to 90% domestic flights. I have also had flights to Turkey, Armenia, Najaf and Baghdad (in Iraq) and Tajikistan. My longest flight path has been almost 3 hours and 40 minutes long”. He asserts that the most vital responsibility and concern of a pilot is, “the safety of passengers, ensuring they will travel in complete health and reach their destination.”
Captain Azimi: “All the moments of a flight are challenging.”
Captain Mahmoud Azimi, now 40 years old, has begun flying with passenger planes since 2012 and now it is nearly 20 years since the year he has passed his training course.
“I initially began flying with Fokker 100 aircraft and after that I had flights with Boeing 737. It does not matter to me whether my flight path is domestic or international. I also had flights to Kuwait, Qatar, the UAE, Oman, Najaf and Samarra in Iraq and the north-western countries of Iran like Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan”, he says in an interview with 7Berkeh news agency.
“But where has been your longest flight path?”, we ask him and he explains, “generally the longest flight path in Iran is from Tabriz to Chabahar. I have never flown in this route, but my longest flight path has been about 2 hours and 15 minutes long.”
He adds, “one of our biggest challenges is that if a technical fault or another problem arises during the flight, we must take action quickly to resolve them.”
Captain Atash-Afrouz and the Sky of Vietnam
Now, it is the time to fly over the clouds and investigate the name of Gerashi pilots who fly in other countries!
The first one in the list is Captain Farshad Atash-Afrouz, who is originally from Gerash but has lived most of his life in Dubai. He was born in January 1991 in the Dubai. He has initiated the laborious path of aviation profession since 2009. After three years, he graduated in Malaysia in 2012. Now, after four and a half years flying over the sky of Vietnam with the country’s airlines, he has turned 35 years old recently.
“I began flying with Airbus 320/321 since 2016. I am now employed in Vietnam Airlines”, he says in his interview with 7Berkeh and adds, “I had flights with Airbus 320 for two months and after that I experienced flying with Airbus 321. So far, I have recorded more than 3080 hours of flight in my flight resume.”
Hamed Farhadi: “The chances of being hired are very low for pilots in Iran.”
First officer Hamed Farhadi, now 36 years old, studied aviation since January 2009. Since his first flight in January 2016, it is nearly ten years that he works as a first officer so far.
“I have been flying various Airbus aircraft for six and a half years now. Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, the UAE, Turkey, Pakistan, Thailand, Mongolia, China, Russia, Serbia, etc. had been my flight destinations so far. My longest flight path had been from Shanghai to Tehran, which was approximately 10 hours and 40 minutes long”, he states about his flight experiences.
“Those who truly love and are fond of this profession should pursue this path. Keep in mind that due to the inadequacies of aircraft and high demand for this job, the possibility of hiring individuals in this field is very low in Iran”, he says to those individuals who are interested in piloting.
Hamid Mahmoudzadeh and Flying During the War
First officer Hamid Mahmoudzadeh is now 36 years old. It has been four years since he is flying over the sky.
“I have about 2000 hours of flight experience with the Bombardier CRJ 200 and my longest flight has been from Muscat to Ahvaz. One of my most challenging flights was Tehran-Ahvaz Flight, which coincided with the regional tensions in June 2025 and the missile firing so that we had to return to Mehr-Abad Airport in Tehran”, Hamid says in his interview.
First officer position supports the captain of a flight. Hamid elaborates on the most important responsibility of a pilot: “The main factor of a successful pilot is possessing the power of proper decision-making along with the fast action in stressful conditions.”
Mohsen Yousefi, A Gerashi Pilot in Toronto
First officer Mohsen Yousefi has still a long path ahead in the skies at the age of 35, although he has traveled to many destinations to achieve his dream. He is originally from Gerash but lives in Toronto, Canada now.
“One of our Lebanese friends recommended me to immigrate to a Western country and I set out to Canada in 2013 and attended a flight school there, participating in a full-time pilot training program for one and a half years”, he elaborates the starting point of his journey.
For five years since 2016, he teaches piloting in Peterborough in Canada and then he is employed as a first officer by a company in Toronto, which undertakes King Air Charter flights and stays there until 2024. It is the dawn of his endeavor to fly planes in passenger airlines.
“In 2024, I started working at a new company called Jet Line as a first officer on the Airbus A320. For this flight, I completed a simulator training course in Dallas, USA, and also worked for a while in Morocco”, he adds. Since 2024, he is flying with Boeing freighters. “I will be working as a first officer for a cargo airline on Boeing 767 and 757”, he informs about his path ahead.
Mehdi Mohebbi, From South Africa to the USA
In 2009, Mehdi sets out to South Africa from Dubai to attend a pilot training course and then he returns to Iran and obtains a flight license after completing the advanced course. From 2017 to 2019, he cooperates with Aseman Airlines in Iran and even travels to Malaysia to attend a training flight course with ATR aircrafts. Since 2017, he has been working as an LPR evaluator at the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA). Two years ago, he immigrated to the USA again and separated from aviation once more.
“In the United States, my field of work is not related to aviation, but I am pursuing to obtain a pilot’s license in the USA, which involves a series of stages including practical exams that I need to complete”, he explains about the path he has to undergo.
He is still into aviation at the age of 34. In addition to trying to obtain a pilot’s license in the USA, he keeps working intermittently with the CAA in the LPR pilot evaluation section.
Mohammad Matin and the Hope of Becoming a Pilot
In the next few days, Mohammad Matin turns 34. The journey of Mohammad for becoming a pilot began since 2013, when he attended a training course in the Arta School in Kish Island and graduated in 2017. Since then, he looked for a job and consequently commenced his job as a flight attendant in Meraj Airlines.
In 2019, he developed his cooperation with this company and eventually became the operations engineer of Miraj Company. Matin was the chief of staff to the deputy of Miraj for a while in 2021 and then he focused on operations engineering.
In 2021, Mohammad completed the type rated pilot course for the Embraer 145 aircraft and took another step closer to his dream. Now he works in engineering operations at the Miraj and Ata companies, involving in activities such as compiling aircraft manuals, operational calculations, company regulations, etc.
Those Who Have Passed Aviation Training, But …
Here is the end of our flight and we will land to review some other names, who are still dreaming of flying. There are also other individuals, who have completed pilot training but for various reasons have not yet entered into this profession. Mohammad Sepehr is one of these individuals who, after completing his pilot training, is currently working in his family business in Gerash.
Mojtaba Maldar has also passed aviation training courses in 2016 but has not gained an employment chance unfortunately and now is working in Dubai.
Some of other fans of flight Gerash have attained the dream of flying through paragliding or light aircrafts, which is mostly of a sporting nature.
Read this story in Persian here.
