RIP Captain Deepak Vasant Sathe: Brave Decorated IAF Officer Who Saved Lives On An Ill- Fated Plane

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Captain Deepak Vasant Sathe (60), the pilot of the ill-fated Air India Express Flight IX-1344 was among the 19 people who died in the plane crash on Friday evening. The flight was coming from Dubai on 7 August 2020 and crashed into 30-feet valley after it skidded on the Kozhikode runway. Captain Deepak Sathe was an ex Indian Air Force officer who took the flight testing wing before taking up the job of a pilot in commercial flights. Today Captain Deepak Sathe is being named as the Hero who lost his own life but saved the lives of 180 people.

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Nilesh Sathe, the cousin of Deepak Sathe wrote a heartfelt post on Twitter. He described how did the pilot manage to save the plane from catching fire. However, even after his consistent efforts destiny had some other plans. The plane skidded from the runway and fell nosedived and split into two killing 19 people including the pilot and co-pilot. In his post, he mentions what a wonderful man Deepak Sathe was. Today we are going to tell you more about the incident and the facts about the late pilot.

1. Captain Deepak Vasant Sathe was an alumnus of the National Defence Academy (NDA) in Pune. He passed out from the Air Force Academy with the 'Sword of Honour'.

2. He was a resident of Powai in Mumbai.

3. According to Nilesh Sathe Captain Deepak's father, Vasant Sathe was a colonel while his brother Vikas Sathe was also in Indian Armed Force. He laid down his life during an operation in the Jammu region.

4. In his post, Nilesh Sathe mentioned that Sathe served as an experienced and dedicated pilot who served for 36 years. He had served in the Indian Air Force for 21 glorious years.

5. Sathe was a dedicated and hardworking officer and also an excellent squash player.

6. It is not that Deepak Sathe was not new to the table-top landing at the Kozhikode airport and had successfully flown to the city many times.

7. While Sathe was serving in the Indian Air Force, he once suffered multiple skull injuries in an air crash. He stayed hospitalised for six months and nobody expected that he would be able to resume flying. But due to his love for flying and strong will-power, Sathe resumed flying.

8. In his post, Nilesh Sathe mentioned, "Landing gears didn't work. Ex IAF pilot made three rounds of the airport to empty the fuel which saved the plane from catching fire. That's why there was no smoke seen coming from the crashed aircraft. He turned off the engine right before the crash. He belly-landed after the 3rd iteration. The right-wing was ruptured. The Pilot martyred but saved the life of 180 co-passengers."

A frwd recd on WA (even if it may not be aithentic factually) abt the brave Pilot #DVSathe encapsulates the hero
He was a soldier, will always be remembered as soldier ..whose quick thinking & sacrifice saved at least 160 lives🙏#salute #calicutplanecrash #AirIndiaplanecrash pic.twitter.com/TiPGDua2wL

— Rita Singh (@Rita_2110) August 8, 2020

9. The flight was on Vande Bharat Mission to rescue Indian citizens stranded in Dubai. Due to the outbreak of coronavirus, the services of International flights were stopped temporarily.

We pray for martyr Captain Deepak Vasant Sathe and others who lost their lives in the fateful plane crash and others.