Who Are Air India Express Pilot and Co-Pilot in Crash?

The aviation community is tragic by the death of two senior Air India Express pilots who were killed in today’s Air India Express crash in Ahmedabad airport. The individuals operating the Air India Express Flight AI171 at the time of the accident were Captain Sumeet Sabharwal and First Officer Clive Kundar, who were on the controls of the Boeing 787-8 airplane that crashed shortly after takeoff with 242 people onboard.

Air India Express Captain’s Flying Career

Captain Sumeet Sabharwal, the commander of the crashed Air India Express flight, had extraordinary experience in the cockpit, having clocked more than 8,200 hours of flying time. The experienced pilot of Air India was of Lieutenant Colonel, which indicated his military aviation flight experience before entering commercial airlines.

Colleagues in the aviation industry attest to the fact that Captain Sabharwal was a fastidious professional who gave the best examples of what was expected of Air India Express pilots. His many flight hours were a lifetime in aviation safety and service to passengers. The captain of the Air India Express had already flown several international routes successfully, and today the tragedy was more appalling to people who knew that he was very competent in his work.

First Officer’s Rising Career with Air India Express

The co-pilot of the Express flight was First Officer Clive Kundar, who had clocked up 1,100 hours of precious flying time. Younger in his aviation career than his captain, Kundar was part of the new Air India pilots who had undergone training to incorporate the strict standards of the airline.

The 24-year-old Air India Express co-pilot had been accumulating his flying hours on different aircraft in the Air India fleet. When he was chosen to fly the London Gatwick route, it was a show of the trust that Air India Express management had in his emerging skills. According to industry sources, Kundar was touted as a promising flyer who had good technical expertise.

Air India Express Crew’s Final Moments

The final message of the Air India Express flight crew was a mayday distress signal soon after leaving the Runway 23. Captain Sabharwal and First Officer Kundar had sent out the distress signal, which meant that they had understood that there was a severe issue, and urgent help was needed.

Nevertheless, the pilots of Air India Express did not manage to maintain the connection with the ground control after the first signal of distress. The flight tracking information indicates that the Air India plane had attained just 625 feet when it started a fatal descent at the rate of 475 feet per minute, indicating that the crew members must have been confronted by an enormously difficult emergency scenario.

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