Who was Captain Sumeet Sabharwal? Veteran Air India pilot killed in Ahmedabad crash minutes after take-off

NEW DELHI: Captain Sumeet Sabharwal, a senior Air India pilot with nearly three decades of flying experience, was among those who died in Thursday’s plane crash shortly after take-off from Ahmedabad. Sabharwal, had called his family from the airport, assuring them he would ring again after landing in London. That call never came. His final transmission was to air traffic control, moments before Air India Flight 171 went down.Captain Sabharwal had logged more than 8,200 hours in the cockpit, according to India’s aviation regulator DGCA. Colleagues believe his actual experience was far greater, noting that the DGCA’s current digital system may not fully reflect his career history. “He was a very quiet, diligent man,” said a fellow pilot. “He flew Airbus A310s, Boeing 777s and the Dreamliner. He always kept his head down and did his work.” A resident of Jal Vayu Vihar in Powai, Mumbai, Captain Sabharwal had recently told his 82-year-old father — a former DGCA official — that he would take time off soon to be with him. That visit will now never take place. Captain Sabharwal was one of nine Mumbai-based crew members on the London-bound flight. Families who were expecting calls from Heathrow were instead confronted with news of the devastating crash.