Captain Sumeet Sabharwal: 8200 Hours Experience Pilot Dies

The aviation fraternity is in a tragic mourning over the death of Captain Sumeet Sabharwal, the senior pilot at the helm of Air India Flight AI171 that crashed shortly before Ahmedabad airport on Thursday afternoon. The commander of the unfortunate Boeing 787-8 plane that crashed soon after takeoff was Captain Sumeet Sabharwal, who had an impeccable 8,200 hours of flight time under his belt.

Who Was Captain Sumeet Sabharwal?

Captain Sumeet Sabharwal was a Line Training Captain in Air India whose experience in commercial aviation spanned close to ten years. He has numerous flying hours that indicate his years of service to the aviation industry in terms of safety and passenger service. The experienced pilot had a reputation among other pilots of being professional and adherent to the standards of flight operations.

First Officer Clive Kundar, who had 1,100 hours of flying experience, was also acting as co-pilot in the ill-fated flight in addition to Captain Sabharwal. The cockpit crew of two members had a total of more than 9,300 hours of flying experience, indicating that the two had extensive experience in aviation.

The accident happened as the Flight AI171 occupants left Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport at 1:39 PM, and the plane was heading to London Gatwick. The Boeing plane went down soon after takeoff, and the pilots had made a MAYDAY call to the air traffic controllers before communications were lost.The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has confirmed that the aircraft was carrying 242 people, including 2 pilots, 10 cabin crew members, as well as 230 passengers. The passenger manifest was international and had passengers of various nationalities, most of them being Indian and British nationals.