He told his father that he will quit

The captain of Air India flight 171 from Ahmedabad to London Gatwick, Sumeet Sabharwal, was one of Air India's most experienced pilots with 8,200 hours of flying logged.

- Yogesh Naik, Sabah Virani, Niraj Pandit and Sameera Kapoor Munshi

MUMBAI:

Sabharwal, a resident of Powai, was unmarried and lived with his nonagenarian father. Neighbours said Sabharwal had been a pilot since 1994. "Only a few days ago, he told his father that he will be quitting his job to look after him full time," said Shiv Sena lawmaker Dilip Lande who had come to the Sabharwals' home to condole. The family, said neighbours, was deeply connected to the aviation industry. Captain Sabharwal's father had retired from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) while his two nephews are also pilots.

"They are wonderful people," said their next-door neighbour.

"Whenever he flew out, Sumeet would ask us to keep an eye on his father. He has now been left devastated." His co-pilot was first officer Clive Kunder, who also belonged to a family steeped in aviation. His mother was a flight attendant with Air India and Kunder grew up at the Air India colony at Kalina before moving to Borivali. Kunder completed his aircraft maintenance course at Bombay Flying Club (BFC) at Juhu.

BFC president Captain Mihir Bhagvati told HT: "Clive was a student of the 2006 batch. He also attended some ground school classes for flying in Florida."

Kunder had 1,100 hours of flying under his belt and had worked with a different private airline before joining Air India five years ago.

Clive, a bachelor, is survived by his parents and his sister Kliene, who told HT that they were in Sydney. "My father Clifford and mother Rekha are with me in Sydney and we have no information on the condition of my brother. We are leaving on Friday for Ahmedabad."

An official who asked not to be named said Kunder "had moved from flying A320 to B787 recently".