Updated: August 8, 2020 12:13:49 pm
Deepak Vasanth Sathe, 60, was a resident of Powai in Mumbai.
Captain Deepak Vasanth Sathe was among the 18 people who died after an Air India Express flight from Dubai crashlanded at Kozhikode airport in Kerala on Friday. Sathe, 60, was a former Wing Commander of the Indian Air Force (IAF) and had served with its flight testing wing.
He was an alumnus of the National Defence Academy (NDA) in Pune. Air Marshal Bhushan Gokhale (Retd) told news agency PTI, “Captain Sathe was from 58th course of National Defence Academy, Pune. He was from Juliet Squadron. Sathe passed out from Air Force Academy with Sword of Honour in June 1981, and was a fighter pilot in the IAF.”
Sathe was an excellent squash player, Gokhale reminisced . (Follow Kerala flight crash live updates)
Sathe, a resident of Powai in Mumbai, was not new to landing on the tabletop runway at Kozhikode, and had flown to the city many times.
On Friday, records show he attempted to land the aircraft several times. Due to incessant rains, he steered the aircraft around the airport twice before managing to touch down, but it skidded off the runway due to hydroplaning — when a layer of water forms on the surface, reducing friction with the brakes of a vehicle. The aircraft…
