Kerala Plane Crash : MiG-21’s Skilled Pilot, Indian Air Force’s Top Fighter… Know Who Was Pilot Deepak Sathe

New Delhi : On Friday, in the plane that crashed in Kerala Calicut, Wing Commander Deepak Vasant Sathe, the captain of the aircraft, also died. Those who know him say that he was a great fighter of the Indian Air Force who had learned to fly MiG-21 fighter planes of Soviet origin during his 22-year career. 59-year-old Deepak Sathe, who died in a plane crash, was awarded the ‘Sword of Honor’ when he graduated from Air Force Academy in Dundigal, near Hyderabad in June 1981. He was an Indian Air Force fighter, an alumnus of the prestigious National Defense Academy, Khadakwasla, and an accomplished pilot.

“It is sad. Sathe used to work with me in Aircraft and Systems Testing Establishment (IAF’s Flight Testing Establishment). May his soul rest in peace,” says Manmohan Bahadur, retired Additional Commissioner of the Center for Air Power Studies. An old IAF pilot who knows him says that Sathe joined the Air Force in June 1981 and left in 2003. He said, “He was a highly skilled pilot who loved to fly. He was a mentor of several young pilots.”

The Air India Express plane fell from the Kozhikode airstrip on Friday evening and fell into the valley and broke into two. At least 17 people died in this accident. The plane took off from Dubai with 190 people. The injured are being taken to hospitals. Rescue work is still going on.