He attempted to escape from Pakistan and join the Bangladesh Liberation War, to hijack a Lockheed T-33 aircraft being flown by a 20-year-old newly commissioned Pilot Officer Rashid Minhas, who was conducting his second solo flight. Rahman stopped the aircraft on the runway, climbed into the cockpit and steered the aircraft toward the Indian border, but Rashid Minhas fought against him through the mechanically linked controls. Minhas then released the canopy, and since he was not properly strapped in, Rahman flew out of the cockpit.