Aircraft crash claims 19-yr-old trainee pilot, his family's dreams

Life was cut short for 19yearold Sohel Zahiruddin Ansari minutes after the twoseater Diamond DA40 aircraft he was flying crashed on Tuesday afternoon A trainee pilot at the Uttar Pradeshbased Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Uran Akademi IGRUA Sohel took off for his solo sortie from Birsi airfield in Gondia near Nagpur His body was recovered from Delakhedi Village in Chindwada district in Madhya Pradesh yesterday Father mother brother and two younger sisters survive Sohel Relatives and neighbours gathered outside the Ansari residence upon hearing the news of Sohelrsquos death Trainee pilots from IGRUA are sent to Gondia base for training due to bad weather and poor visibility in Rae Bareli during winter Sohel took off from Gondia at 1230 pm for Panchmarhi and was expected to return by 3 pm The family The Ansaris live in a small house in slums on Tadiwala Road where Sohelsrsquo father Zahiruddin runs a tiny bakery by paying a monthly rent of Rs 2500 Making Sohel a commercial pilot was an unaffordable dream for this lower middleclass family but Zahiruddin and his relatives did every possible thing to raise Rs 38 lakh for the 18month course Sohel had joined IGRUA in December 2012 and was supposed to complete the course in the next five months A father waits ldquoThe officials here are telling me not to lose hope Search operation is on They are saying that they will find Sohel soon using the inputs they received from the black box of the aircraftrdquo said Zahiruddin who was in Gondia hoping to get news about his sonrsquos wellbeing Unfortunate end Sohel Ansari circled with his batchmates While Zahiruddin still believes that his son would be returning home soon Sohelrsquos brother Shoaib came to know about his death through news channels ldquoHe was sincere hard working and very good in studies My father is telling me that soon he will meet Sohel but I already knowrdquo Shoaib said Commenting on Sohelrsquos flying skills Zahiruddin said this was not the first time that Sohel had flown solo ldquoHersquos got good flying skills Thatrsquos why he was a few of those who were selected for the course from across the countryrdquo Zahiruddin and his wife had visited their hometown in Bijnore in Uttar Pradesh last month to make provision for Rs 8 lakh the remaining fee for the course Young achiever A good student Sohel had passed HSC with distinction from Wadia College and had planned to become an engineer for which he attempted and cleared CET in May 2012 But it was one of his friends Sumit who induced the idea of becoming a pilot into Sohel Though both appeared for IGRUA entrance test it was Sohel who cracked it and was one of the few to be selected for the course from among 4500 candidates Sohelrsquos brother Shoaib PicsKrunal Gosaviu00a0 ldquoI clearly remember the day when Sohel had his maiden flight because his father distributed cake from his bakery to all of us saying that once Sohel completes the course he will give opportunity to each one of us to sit in an aircraft next to himrdquo local political activist Yasin Sheikh who knows the Ansaris well said Commenting on the sense of pride the Anasris and the locals felt Sohelrsquos friend Elahi Jamadar said it was a big achievement for a boy hailing from Tadiwala Road slums of attempting to become a pilot ldquoZahiruddinrsquos brotherinlaw had taken a promise from Sohel that he would marry his daughter after becoming a pilotrdquo Copspeak ldquoThe pilot was expected to return to Gondia base by 230 pm on Tuesday But after confirming that the plane was missing in Chindwada area we immediately informed the MP police They initiated a search operation in jungles of Balaghat and Chindwada Finally Ansarirsquos body was recovered from Childongri jungle on Wednesday afternoonrdquo siad Vijay Halmare Asst Sub Inspector of Gondia u00a0