One was a veteran preparing to hang up his boots, the other a young co-pilot just charting the early course of his aviation career. Both the aviators, Captain Sumeet Sabharwal and First Officer Clive Kunder, met a cruel end on Thursday as the Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner they were in charge of, crashed.
Sabharwal and Kunder were among the 241 people who lost their lives in the
Air India crash in Ahmedabad.
Together, the two pilots had clocked a
combined 9,300 hours of flying experience. Captain Sabharwal alone had 8,200 hours under his belt.
CAPTAIN SABHARWAL WAS ABOUT TO LEAVE HIS JOB
Known for his professionalism and calm demeanour, Sumeet Sabharwal was deeply respected in the aviation community.
Sabharwal lived in Mumbai's Powai locality.
"I am a retired Wing Commander and have worked with Air India staff in every kind of situation. Captain Sumeet was a very good and experienced pilot. His death is a huge loss for Air India," said Sanjeev Pai, a family friend, while speaking to news agency PTI.
"He was such a calm and peaceful person, an excellent pilot. There were never any complaints about him, he was very professional in both his behaviour and in his dealings with people," Pai added.
Sabharwal belonged to a family with long connections to aviation.
Sumeet Sabharwal father, a former DGCA official, and two cousins, also pilots, had all inspired his journey to the skies.
Just days before the crash, Sabharwal had told his 82-year-old ailing father that he planned to quit his job to care for him full-time.
"Only a few days ago, he told his father that he would be quitting his job to look after him full-time," said Shiv Sena MLA Dilip Lande, who visited the family to offer condolences, according to The Times of India.
CO-PILOT CLIVE KUNDER
First Officer Clive Kunder, who had 1,100 hours of flying experience, came from a family equally connected to aviation.
His mother was a flight crew member, and Kunder's early training included an aircraft maintenance course at the Bombay Flying Club in Mumbai Juhu. Clive grew up in Kalina's Air India colony in Mumbai before his family moved to Borivali, according to a Hindustan Times report.
His sister, Kliene, shared the family's deep concern and heartbreak.
"My father Clifford and mother Rekha are with me in Sydney, and we have no information on the condition of my brother. We are leaving on Friday for Ahmedabad to find out how he is," Kliene told the newspaper Hindustan Times.
Actor Vikrant Massey also mourned the loss of his Kunder, who the actor said was a family friend.
"My heart breaks for the families and loved ones of the ones who lost their lives in the unimaginably tragic air crash in Ahmedabad today. It pains even more to know that my uncle, Clifford Kunder, lost his son, Clive Kunder, who was the first officer operating on that fateful flight. May God give strength to you and your family, uncle, and to all [those] deeply affected," actor Vikrant Massey wrote on Instagram on Thursday.
According to reports, as the Air India Dreamliner, Sumeet Sabharwal and Clive Kunder were piloting, started to stall minutes after it reached an altitude of 625 feet, both of them had less than a minute to respond. The plane ultimately crashed into a residential building near the Ahmedabad airport, bursting into flames upon impact.
Although the Air Traffic Control (ATC) received a MAYDAY call, they reported no further communication from the cockpit despite repeated attempts to re-establish contact.
