The mortal remains of Captain Deepak Sathe reached Mumbai on Sunday afternoon. Sathe was the pilot-in-command of the ill fated Air India Express flight, which overshot the tabletop runway on Friday night while landing at the Kozhikode airport in heavy rain, fell into a valley 35 feet below and broke into two, killing 18 people, including both pilots. The plane, carrying 190 people, was a part of Vande Bharat Mission, which was bringing back Indians stranded overseas due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Captain Sathe's mortal remains were flown to the city from Cochin airport in Kerala in a cargo flight. His wife Sushma and son accompanied the body. Sathe's mortal remains were kept at the Air India facility near terminal T2 of the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport before being taken to Bhabha Hospital. Sathe's funeral will take place on Tuesday, one of two sons of Sathe will arrive from the USA by Monday night. Sathe was a resident of Chandivali in Mumbai.
A former IAF pilot, Captain Deepak Vasant Sathe had 10,000 hours of flying experience on the Boeing 737. He was a former Wing Commander of the IAF and had served as an IAF test pilot as well.
Earlier, on Sunday, co-pilot and first officer of the ill-fated flight Captain Akhilesh Kumar was cremated at his home town in Mathura in the presence of his family members and Air India and Air India Express officials.
