Pilot of ill- fated plane an Indian
The commander of the ill- fated Lion Air Boeing 737Max 8 aircraft with 188 people on board that crashed into the sea off Indonesia was 31- year- old Indian national, Bhavye Suneja, who was also killed in the crash.
Bhavye received his flying licence in 2009. A Delhi boy, he studied at the Alhcon Public School at Mayur Vihar. His distraught family, that expected him home for Diwali, struggled to accept the news, when they saw on television that the plane Bhavye was flying had crashed. His mother, Sangeeta Suneja, was in tears and asked mediapersons to “pray” for them.
His father, Gulshan Suneja, is a chartered accountant and his mother, Sangeeta, works with Air India. An Air India official said Sangeeta works in the passenger handling department of the airline at Delhi Airport. Bhavye married in 2016 and was based in Jakarta with his wife Garima Sethi, a former manager at the Indian Express.
DGCA sources in New Delhi said the Indian aviation regulator is in touch with US aircraft manufacturer Boeing and the United States Federal Aviation Administration ( FAA) to “know more details” about the accident since six such Boeing 737 Max 8 aircraft are being
operated by two Indian carriers — Jet Airways and SpiceJet. But DGCA sources did say that “as far as operation of B737 Max with Indian operators is concerned, no technical issue has been experienced by the operators”.
According to media reports, Suneja got his pilot licence in 2009 and joined Lion Air in 2011 with 6,000 hours of flying experience.
In a tweet, the Indian Embassy in Indonesia stated, “Our deepest condolences on the tragic loss of lives in the Lion Air plane crash, off the coast of Jakarta today. Most unfortunate that Indian pilot Bhavye Suneja who was flying JT610 also lost his life... Embassy is in touch with crisis center and coordinating for all assistance.”
The aircraft flying from the from the Indonesian capital Jakarta to Pangkal Pinang lost contact with the ground officials 13 minutes after taking off from Jakarta Soekarno Hatta International Airport and crashed near Kerawang, 32 miles east of Jakarta.
PM Narendra Modi expressed his condolences, saying, “My thoughts are with the families and friends of those who lost their lives in the plane crash in Indonesia. May Almighty give them strength and courage in this hour of grief.”