'Funeral for pilots will be held with political honor' - Maharashtra government's decision

Mumbai, Ta. 11 August 2020, Tuesday

The Maharashtra government has decided to conduct the funeral with full political honors for retired Air India pilot Captain W V Sathe, who died in the Kozhikode plane crash. The announcement was made on Tuesday morning from the official Twitter handle of the Maharashtra Chief Minister's Office. "His life will inspire young pilots to get the 'Sword of Honor'," the tweet said. Captain Sathe (58), who lives at Chandivali in Mumbai, will be cremated in Mumbai this afternoon.

After the plane crash, his wife Sushma and one of his sons went to Kerala to collect the body and the body was brought to Mumbai by a plane on Sunday. His body was laid to rest at the Air India Center at Terminal 2 of the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport before being brought to Bhabha Hospital.

For the sake of AIF

The death toll in a plane crash at Kozhikode in Kerala has reached 18. An Air India Express flight from Dubai with 190 people, including six crew members, crashed into a 35-foot-deep ravine while landing at Kozhikode airport amid heavy rains on Friday night and split in two. The crash killed 18 people, including both pilots. He has been a Wing Commander in the Indian Air Force and has served in the Air Force's Flight Testing Institute.