You will be missed as a friend and pilot

Friends of Captain Z Glusica,the Serbian-origin pilot who died in the Mangalore air crash remember him as a genial,family man.

Friends of Captain Z Glusica,the Serbian-origin pilot who died in the Mangalore air crash on Saturday,remember him as a genial,family man. On his Facebook wall,his friends have written condolence messages. I cant believe it. Youll be missed as a great friend and a pilot. God bless your soul, wrote Tahir Filipovic.

Glusica had turned 55 on May 16 and was back from Serbia after a two-week break on May 18. He went to Mangalore the following day and his first flight after his short break was on May 21.

Twice married,Glusica is survived by his three children Merima,Aleksander,Dunja. His youngest daughter is said to be only seven-year-old. A Serbian pilot said that Glusicas son,Aleksander,is learning to fly at the Jat flying school where Glusica had completed his training in 1975. He added that Glusica had recently become a grandfather.

In Belgrade,he used to live very close to the airport. Perhaps he saw planes everyday and thus decided to become a pilot, said a colleague from the Air India Express.

Glusica started training to become a pilot immediately after high school. He worked for the Jat Airways. The airline had paid for his training and in return,Glusica had to work for the airline for five years. He was a commander for over 20 years in the Serbian airline,said his colleague,also of Serbian origin. We were trained at the same place. He was a good pilot, he said.

In 2004,he began flying the B-737,prior to that he was flying DC-9 with the Jat Airways. According to Air India,he had over 10,000 hours of professional experience.

Because of the uncertainty surrounding the tenure of expat pilots in India,it is said that Glusica was looking for a job. We had heard that he had got an offer from the Turkish Airlines, said the colleague.

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Glusica seemed to have been based mostly out of Kochi,Mangalore and Kozhikode for the past two years. His wife came to India once last year, said the colleague.