trendingNowenglish2915220https://zeenews.india.com/india/ahmedabad-plane-crash-two-pilots-one-tragedy-he-promised-to-quit-flying-the-other-just-begun-2915220.html
News> India
Advertisement

Ahmedabad Plane Crash: Two Pilots, One Tragedy – He Promised To Quit Flying, The Other Just Begun

The man in the cockpit had made a quiet vow to stop flying and care for his father. But fate had other plans.

Ahmedabad Plane Crash: Two Pilots, One Tragedy – He Promised To Quit Flying, The Other Just Begun (L-R) Pilot Sumit Sabharwal and First Officer Clive Kunder
Share
Follow Us

Ahmedabad, New Delhi: A few days before he took the cockpit of that doomed Dreamliner, Captain Sumit Sabharwal made a promise. It was not to his airline, his seniors or even to himself. It was to his ageing and ailing father.

“I will quit flying soon. I will be home with you,” he had told him. But Captain Sabharwal never got that chance.

When Air India flight AI171 went down near Ahmedabad on June 12, it was not only a plane that crashed. It was a quiet life story that ended mid-sentence.

In his mid-50s Sabharwal lived in Mumbai and had never married. He spent most of his time caring for his elderly father and staying in touch with his sister.

Known among colleagues as dependable and soft-spoken, he had clocked over 8,000 flying hours and served as a Line Training Captain, responsible for grooming the next generation of pilots. Ironically, he was also involved in safety audits and checks.

“He was one of ours. Single. Lived for his father. That is who he was. His entire world,” said Captain C.S. Randhawa, president of the Federation of Indian Pilots.

The federation, which represents around 6,000 pilots in India, described Sabharwal as a stickler for safety and someone pilots often looked up to. “He was a colleague. He was a friend to many. This is not only a professional loss, it is deeply personal,” he said.

But the tragedy did not end there.

Hours after the crash, actor Vikrant Massey shared a heartbreaking note. The man sitting next to Sabharwal in the cockpit, First Officer Clive Kunder, was his cousin.

“My heart breaks for the families and loved ones of those who lost their lives in this unimaginably tragic crash. But it hurts even more to know that my uncle Clifford Kunder lost his son, Clive, who was the first officer on that flight,” Massey wrote in an Instagram post.

Clive, described by friends as “soft-spoken, deeply committed and crazy about flying”, was just beginning to make his mark. Massey’s words reflected not just grief but disbelief. “There are no words for this kind of loss,” he said.

In a strange twist of timing, Air India’s CEO, Campbell Wilson, was on his way to Paris for an aviation summit when the news came in. Midair, Flight AI143 turned back. Wilson immediately rerouted himself to Ahmedabad to take stock of the situation.

“It has shaken everyone. You do not expect this to happen, not on a Dreamliner, not like this,” a source close to the airline said.

The Boeing 787 Dreamliner involved in the crash was on its way to London Gatwick and carried over 240 people, including crew and passengers. Among them was former Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani, who too died.

For now, what remains are unanswered questions and the shattered homes of two pilots who never came back. One had plans to quit. The other had just begun.

Stay informed on all the latest news, real-time breaking news updates, and follow all the important headlines in india news and world News on Zee News.

Read More
NEWS ON ONE CLICK