Trainee pilot dies in plane crash

Chhindwara district police chief Purshottam Sharma said local villagers informed the police about the crash,following which a search was launched.

The body of the pilot,Sohail Ansari (19),was found on Wednesday near Belakhadi in the Pachmarhi hills. Sources said he had become eligible for a solo flight since he had fulfilled the stipulated 80-hour flying criterion.

While it was not immediately known as to what caused the crash,the Chhindwara police said the pilot lost his way due to fog.

IGRUA conducts some of its training flights from Gondia airport in Maharashtra that houses the Rajiv Gandhi National Flying Institute due to better weather conditions there during winters,compared to Rae Bareli. This year,26 trainees and 10 planes have come to Birsi,bordering MP,for the purpose.

Ansari’s family lives in Tadiwala Road,Pune,where his father runs a bakery.

Five months from now,Ansari would have become a commercial pilot. He flew his first solo in Rae Bareli six months ago.

While his father Zahiruddin Ansari,a heart patient,has been in Gondia ever since the news of the aircraft going missing reached him,family members said he had not been informed about the death yet. “He is still missing. The Air Force captain told me not to trust anyone and wait till the black box of the aircraft is found,” Zahiruddin told The Indian Express over the phone.

The family said Zahiruddin had heavily borrowed from friends and relatives to pay for his son’s Rs 40-lakh fee.

After finishing Class 12 from Wadia College in 2012,Ansari told his father that he wanted to become a commercial pilot. Zahiruddin had then told him he had no money to pay his fees. His small bakery was the only source of income for the family of six — Zahiruddin,his wife and four children. Their 10 X 12 sq ft room wasn’t worth being mortgaged against a loan.

“He had cleared CET and could become an engineer,but he told me that he wanted to become a pilot. For me,it was my son’s dream. I asked many of my relatives if they could lend me some money,but all had their own children to take care of. In the meanwhile,Sohail got a scholarship of Rs 10 lakh and my relative gave me Rs 15 lakh. I generated the remaining Rs 5 lakh from other friends,” Zahiruddin said.

But Ansari’s dream was still far from reality. Because by the time the admission to IGRUA happened,the scholarship lapsed and to add to the woes,the institute hiked its fees to Rs 36.5 lakh. His friend,a dairy owner from the locality,then came to his rescue and mortgaged his own house to raise a bank loan.

Ansari joined IGRUA on December 6,2012.

Zahiruddin and his wife were at their ancestral village in UP where they had gone to collect the remaining Rs 8 lakh when they were told that their son,who took off from Gondia had gone missing with the aircraft.