must be conducted with a minimum altitude of 2,500 ft. Surrounding the airport was an 8-km-wide protection zone, which was intended to be a safe zone for pilots to manoeuvre their aircraft so that they would never fly into the hills located behind the airport. All said procedures for a landing were required to be conducted within the protection zone. The crew, though, managed to fly well outside it and even flew towards Margala Hills, which was quite far from the zone boundary. The recording of the FDR and CVR revealed that the pilot in control of the aircraft at the time, Captain Chaudhry, had significantly deviated from the established procedures for an approach to Islamabad. During the approach, he tried an unconventional approach by requesting a right-hand downwind approach, selected NAV mode, flew significantly close with the hills, and violated the airport's minimum descent altitude. At one point, he could be heard laughing off the order from the ATC to enter a holding pattern and wait for the weather to improve, saying, "Let him say what he wants to say". He was also heard dismissing his first officer's concern on establishing visual with the airport, as he believed that no visual contact was needed as long as they had engaged the autopilot. According to the recording, the captain initially did not feel anxious about his decision to deviate from the standard procedures for an approach to Islamabad. He even stated his intention to initiate the turn for a lineup with runway 12 at a distance where the aircraft was dangerously close with the hills. As a result, the GPWS sounded several times to warn the crew on their impending collision with terrain. In the last few seconds, Captain Chaudhry panicked and eventually caused the aircraft to fly directly towards the hills, rather than avoiding them. Captain's arrogance While numerous deviations from the standard operating procedures happened, the co-pilot of Flight 202, First Officer Ahmed, was largely unresponsive and passive about them, even when the aircraft was put in a dangerously close position to terrain. The recording showed that he had only voiced his concerns on limited occasions. As such, the deviations were never corrected. His muted behaviour could be explained by the conflict that had happened on the initial segment of the flight. During Flight 202's initial climb, Captain Chaudhry decided to use this particular time to test First