The mortal remains of Air India pilot, Captain Deepak V. Sathe, who was killed in Friday's Kozhikode Air India Express flight crash, reached Mumbai on Sunday afternoon. The funeral of Sathe is slated for Tuesday, as son Shantanu, who works in Seattle, is expected to reach Mumbai by Monday.
The mortal remains of Air India pilot, Captain Deepak V. Sathe, who was killed in Friday's Kozhikode Air India Express flight crash, reached Mumbai on Sunday afternoon. The funeral of Sathe is slated for Tuesday, as son Shantanu, who works in Seattle, is expected to reach Mumbai by Monday.
The body was flown from the Kochi International Airport to Mumbai's Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport and was received by his colleagues, Air India officials and members of the aviation fraternity.
Meanwhile, the Sathe family has appealed to the media for privacy in its hour of grief.
"Wing Commander (retd) Deepak Sathe's demise has pained the entire Sathe family and we are all together. Under these circumstances, we are unable to answer any media queries, so kindly do not insist," said the family in a social media statement on Sunday evening.
The pilot in command of the crashed Air India Express flight Captain Deepak Vasant Sathe, who was among those killed in the accident, was one of the most experienced commanders with more than 10,000 flying hours and had landed the aircraft at the Karipur airport runway at least 27 times in the past, Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said on Saturday (August 8, 2020).
"The aircraft was captained and operated by one of our most distinguished, experienced commanders, Captain Deepak Vasant Sathe. In fact, the Captain had more than 10,000 hours of flying experience. He has landed on this very air piece, I think as many as 27 times including this year", Puri said.
The Union Minister said this while speaking to media persons after arriving at the site to take stock of the crash of the Dubai-Kozhikode AIE flight with 190 people on board on Friday night that left 18 people dead and scores injured and the relief measures.
58-year-old Sathe, a former Indian Air Force fighter pilot, was a resident of Mumbai's Powai and is survived by his wife Sushma, sons Shantanu, and Dhananjay and daughter Anjali.
(With inputs from IANS)
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