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Air India Express flight captain was a decorated air force officer

Dubai - He had survived a crash in the 90s, says cousin in Facebook post.

The commander of the ill-fated Air India Express flight from Dubai that crash-landed in Kerala's Kozhikkode was a decorated former Indian Air Force officer, the airline has said. Deepak Vasant Sathe was among the 18 people killed in the crash on Friday.
He was an experienced Boeing 737-800 aircraft pilot and had previously flown the Airbus A-310, the airline said. His co-pilot, Akhilesh Kumar, was killed in the crash as well.
In its 'accident bulletin', Air India said Sathe had won the 'sword of honour' at the Air Force Academy in Hyderabad and was an "accomplished fighter pilot" before becoming a commercial one. He had 36 years of flying experience.
His family has been flown to Calicut from Mumbai. "The family was escorted to the hospital where the mortal remains of the captain were kept for post mortem," the airline said.
The family of Akhilesh Kumar was escorted from Delhi to Calicut by Air India Express officials.
Captain Sathe had 'survived a crash in the 90s'
Meanwhile, National Highways Authority of India's financial advisor Nilesh Sathe took to Facebook to pay tributes to his cousin, Deepak Vasant Sathe. Nilesh said Sathe was proud of his job of helping repatriate Indians stuck in foreign countries amid the coronavirus-related travel restrictions.
"He called me just a week before and was jovial, as always. When I asked him about the Vande Bharat Mission (India's repatriation mission), he (said he) was proud of bringing back our countrymen. I asked him, 'Deepak, do you (fly) an empty aircraft?' He had replied, 'Oh, no. We carry fruits, vegetables, medicines etc to these countries and the aircraft ... (never) flies to these countries empty.' That was my last conversation with him."
Nilesh said that Sathe had "once miraculously" survived an air crash in the 1990s when he was an Indian Air Force pilot.
"He was hospitalised for 6 months for multiple skull injuries and nobody thought that he will fly again. But his strong will power and love for flying made him clear the test again. It was a miracle."