In a tragic accident an Air india Express plane skidded off the runway and broke into two at Kerala’s Kozhikode on Friday evening. One of the pilots Wing Commander Deepak V Sathe was a decorated former fighter pilot with the Indian Air Force who flew planes for Air India before he went on to Air India Express flights. He has an experience of 22 years.
Captain Deepak Sathe, the pilot of the Air India flight who died after the plane crashed at Kerala’s Kozhikode airport had also served in the IAF’s ‘Golden Arrows’ squadron which received Rafale fighters.
He was an alumnus of the National Defence Academy, he was described as very experienced in flying Boeing 737 planes. Captain Deepak Sathe, the pilot of the ill-fated Air India Express plane, that overshot the runway while landing at Kozhikode airport in Kerala on Friday, was a decorated former India Air Force pilot, ‘Sword of Honour’ awardee and has also served with No.17 Squadron, Golden Arrows, which was recently recommissioned with the Rafale fighter jet.
Capt Deepak V Sathe was from 58th course of National Defence Academy, Pune. He was from Juliet Squadron. Sathe passed had out from Air Force Academy with Sword of Honour in June 1981 and was a fighter pilot in the Indian Air Force and is remembered as an excellent squash player.
He had been awarded the 58 NDA President Gold Medal for his professionalism. He had been a test pilot for the Air Force.
As per reports, Sathe was an experienced Boeing 737-800 aircraft pilot and had earlier also flown the Airbus A-310.
He had also won the sword of honor at the Air Force Academy in Hyderabad and was an accomplished fighter pilot before becoming a commercial pilot.
The mishap occurred at 19:41 hours and no fire was reported at the time of landing, the AIE said in a statement.
Wing Commander Sathe, who flew planes for Air India, was a former Indian Air Force pilot, before he went on to Air India Express flights.
The pilots of the Air India Express plane, were Wing Commander Deepak Vasant Sathe and Captain Akhilesh Kumar.
