Plaque honours pilots so tragically lost
FRIENDS Kivash Narain and Armand Kakudji had big dreams of one day becoming commercial pilots, but this all ended with their tragic deaths three years ago.
To mark the anniversary of the light plane crash that claimed the lives of the young men, their families met at the Durban Aviation Centre in Virginia Airport on Saturday to unveil a plaque in their honour.
Narain, of Newlands West, and Kakudji, formerly from the Democratic Republic of Congo, who were both 20, had been flying one of the training school’s Cessna 172 aircraft at the time.
Narain was at the controls and reportedly attempted to make a forced landing due to engine failure when the aircraft hit power cables before crashing in bush near the N2 in eManzimtoti and caught alight on impact.
They were both qualified private pilots and were building hours towards their commercial pilot licence.
Their loved ones still don’t have the answers they have been searching for.
“Death is not easy for anyone and more especially for a parent. It’s an indescribable feeling,” Narain’s mother Radha said. “Any parent would want to know what happened to their child.”
She said the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), which had investigated the crash, presented a finding that was not conclusive in terms of what had gone wrong that fateful day.
“We are still waiting for the police’s investigation to be complete.”
Since her son’s death, she felt a void.
“Sometimes even when you try to forget, you are reminded that he isn’t around. My husband and I are on antidepressants and it’s frustrating that we are still scratching our heads searching for answers,” she said.
“While the CAA’s investigation was inconclusive, we are hoping the police can say why and how it happened; not so much the why but more the how.”
Radha recalled her son dreamed of becoming a pilot.
“When he was younger, he only spoke about becoming a pilot… His father and I were initially against it because it was costly but we eventually agreed after seeing the passion in his eyes.
“We took a second bond on our home to pay for his studies and he planned to be done with his studies in 2016,” she said.
“On the day of the incident, I recall seeing a red car pull up and it was his instructor. I knew something was wrong but in my mind he was okay and alive. I didn’t want to believe that my son, a gentle giant who showed respect for everyone, had died. All I wanted to do was see him. I didn’t even get to see him because his body was burnt. We had to do a funeral with a sealed coffin. It’s extremely difficult to go through life without a child.”
Chief flying instructor Jon Sargood, who attended the unveiling, said it was a tragic and difficult loss for friends and family.
“These boys were always smiling. They were young gentlemen and it’s really sad they and their families had to go through this.”
Kakudji’s uncle, Patrick Tuta, declined to comment.
The police did not comment at the time of publication.