Veteran Pilot Killed in Air India Crash Was Months to Retirement

Captain Sumeet Sabharwal, a highly experienced Air India pilot, was among the 241 people who tragically died when a London-bound Air India flight crashed shortly after take-off on Thursday.

He was just months away from retirement.

Captain Sabharwal, 60, had logged more than 8,200 hours of flight time over a career spanning nearly three decades.

As a Line Training Captain (LTC), he held one of the airline's most trusted positions, mentoring younger pilots and overseeing training operations.

According to The Indian Express, Sabharwal had been looking forward to spending more time with his 82-year-old father, a retired official from India’s civil aviation regulator.

“He was very reserved, disciplined. We often saw him in his uniform, coming and going, but he mostly kept to himself,” a neighbour from his Mumbai residence told the newspaper.

The flight’s co-pilot, First Officer Clive Kundar, had accumulated about 1,100 hours of flight experience and was fully certified to operate the Boeing Dreamliner aircraft involved in the crash.

Among the 242 people on board were 169 Indian nationals, 53 Britons, seven Portuguese citizens, one Canadian, and 12 crew members.

The sole survivor of the crash is a British national.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited the crash site in Ahmedabad and is currently meeting with survivors and their families at local hospitals.

Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar stated that he is in close contact with his counterparts in the UK, Portugal, and Canada, offering condolences and support.

Authorities have confirmed that at least eight residents on the ground also lost their lives. Four of the deceased were medical students residing in one of the buildings the aircraft struck, while the other four were their visiting relatives.

An investigation into the cause of the crash is ongoing.