The flight from Dubai with 190 people, including a six-member crew, overshot the tabletop runway during landing at the Kozhikode airport in heavy rain on Friday, killing 18 people, including both the pilots.
Returning to the Brahmaputra for Vijay Diwas was not just a journey across geography, but across memory of war, service, sacrifice, and the enduring bond between the Indian Air Force and the north east, asserts Air Commodore Nitin Sathe (retd).
Sathe had suffered multiple injuries on his skull in that incident, but due to his strong will power and passion he cleared the test and started flying again, his cousin said.
He was focussed on his career and determined to join the prestigious National Defence Academy, located at Khadakwasla near Pune in Maharashtra, said some of his classmates from the Class 11 batch of St Vincent School.
"Today is the birthday of Capt Sathe'smother. He had last met his parents in March and was constantly in touch with them over phone since then. They had last spoken a day before yesterday," his nephew Dr Yashodhan Sathe told PTI.
The funeral of Sathe, 58, who was a resident of suburban Chandivali in Mumbai, will take place on Tuesday, said a senior Air India official.
The funeral of Captain Sathe, 58, who was a resident of Chandivali in Mumbai, will be held in Mumbai later in the day.
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Captain Sathe was a former Indian Air Force Test pilot. He was commissioned into service in 1981 and served in the force for 22 years.
The Indian consulate in Dubai will remain open on Saturday to help those who need assistance to travel to Kerala and provide information about the crash of the Air India Express flight that skidded off a hilltop runway and split in two while landing in heavy rain at an airport in Kozhikode, killing at least 18 people.
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Along with IAF officials, the AAIB will also reach out to experienced private sector executives, meteorologists, and aviation psychologists to be part of the probe.
"All efforts are being made to help passengers. A formal enquiry will be conducted by Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau," the minister said on Twitter.
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Since Friday evening, 41-year-old Shemir, who works as a logistics manager in Dubai Silicon Oasis, has been making frantic phone calls to different trauma centres in Kerala near the Kozhikode airport to get information of his family members on board the flight.
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The accident occurred at 7:45 pm while the pilot was attempting to land the B737 Air India Express from Dubai at the tabletop runway of the Karipur International Airport.
He also assured the kin of victims that steps would be taken to get them compensation in line with an international convention of International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO). Taking stock of the crash of the Dubai-Kozhikode AIE flight in Kozhikode and the relief measures, the minister said pilot in-command of the plane, Captain Deepak Vasant Sathe, among those killed in the accident, was one of the most experienced commanders with more than 10,000 flying hours.
The mortal remains of co-pilot Akhilesh Kumar were cremated on Sunday "with attendance from all family members as well as with the officials of Air India and Air India Express present to mark respect to the departed soul at Mathura, his hometown".
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'Digital Flight Data Recorder (DFDR) and Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR) of the ill-fated aircraft have been retrieved. AAIB (Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau) is conducting investigations,' Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri tweeted, as fresh questions were raised on the safety parameters of the runway.
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