J&K Chopper Crash: From airman, he rose to Major before tragic fall

ALSO READ: Two officers killed as Army chopper crashes in J&K

And his father Sarver Hussain spoke about the grief of a father who “has to perform the rites of his beloved son”. “He lived and died for his country,” said Hussain about the second of his three sons.

Tracing his background, in posts accessed by The Indian Express, an “ex-CO” posted on WhatsApp an account of how Khan, from a “modest family” in Hyderabad, started his career in the IAF.

“(He) joined IAF as a soldier to support his family but he always dreamt… (of becoming) a pilot. He worked hard and pursued higher studies. Against all odds, he cleared BSc with first class,” the former commanding officer wrote.

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According his colleagues, Tahir made his way up through the Army Cadet College (ACC) of the Officers Training Academy (OTA) where those of other ranks from the three services can become commissioned officers in the Indian Army.

“He worked harder and joined OTA and was commissioned to 4 Gorkha Rifles (GR) (battalion) as a young strapping officer. But the dream of flying was yet to be attained. He did extremely well in the ‘paltan’ and earned the trust and respect of the Gorkha soldiers,” the former CO wrote.

“Among the Gorkhas during his Inf att (infantry attachment) he did a great job along the LoC (Line of Control) spending most of his time with boys in forward posts perilously close to the enemy… Concurrently, he prepared for becoming a pilot. The whole unit supported him and he cleared the rigorous selection process,” the officer wrote.

The posts reveal that Major Khan, who was newly married, finally received the coveted pilots wings in Army Aviation in 2010.

“(On Wednesday) he chose to fly from Manasbal to serve the nation and was doing extremely well till this tragic accident took him away from us,” the officer wrote, adding that Khan was “a committed soldier, a fantastic pilot and a great human being”.

“His untimely demise is an irreparable loss to the ‘paltan’ and the army. I am privileged to have been his CO and colleague. God bless the soul of this great officer and gentleman. Tahir we r proud of u and what u stood fr. God bless!” he posted.

“Alas! Time ran out on him. Much before he could embrace the pleasure of building a little paradise with his newly wedded wife, much before he could realise his potential and excel in service, much before he could embark on a Hajj,” posted a colleague.

“How often have we shed tears over our compatriots falling to the call of duty? While it presents itself as an opportunity to our friends out on the… street for invoking their latent nationalism, for us, the brotherhood in uniform and our loved ones it is a chilling reminder of our infallibility as individuals,” he posted.

According to Army officials, Major Khan’s Advanced Light Helicopter (ALH) Dhruv took off from Manasbal base at about 7 pm and crashed within about an hour after taking off. Also killed in the crash was the pilot, Lt Col Rajesh Gulati.

Officials added that the bodies of the two have been sent to their families —- in Hyderabad and Dehradun —- and that an inquiry would ascertain the cause of the crash.

Major Khan’s father said that his son’s body will be taken by road to his village, Suraram, in Ranga Reddy district.

“Even as a child he used talk of aeroplanes and military jets and dreamt of joining the defence forces. He used to pepper me with questions about that,” said Hussain about his son who studied in Kendriya Vidyalaya, Hyderabad, and obtained his degree from AV college.

Hussain added that after he retired in 2002 after working with Fertiliser Corporation of India (FCI) he and
his wife were being taken care of by his sons, including Mazhar who is in the Army and Mehmood who is with IAF.