Captain Deepak Sathe, pilot of the Air India Express flight who died after the plane crashed at Kerala's Kozhikode airport on Friday, was an alumnus of the National Defence Academy (NDA).
Seventeen people were killed and several injured when a Dubai-Calicut Air India Express flight with 191 passengers and crew on board overshot the runway and fell into a valley, breaking into two portions, on Friday evening.
"Capt Deepak V Sathe was from 58th course of National Defence Academy, Pune. He was from Juliet Squadron," said Air Marshal Bhushan Gokhale (Retd).
"Sathe passed out from Air Force Academy with Sword of Honour in June 1981 and was a fighter pilot in the Indian Air Force," he added.
Sathe was also an excellent squash player, he reminisced.
