Why Air India pilot died ahead of scheduled flight? Delhi Police probe on; what we know so far
The pilot was later identified as Sunny Asaldekar, a man in his forties, who had been found unconscious in his hotel room on Sep 11 evening during a scheduled layover ahead of a flight
The pilot was later identified as Sunny Asaldekar, a man in his forties, who had been found unconscious in his hotel room on Sep 11 evening during a scheduled layover ahead of a flight.
The pilot was later identified as Sunny Asaldekar, a man in his forties, who had been found unconscious in his hotel room on Sep 11 evening during a scheduled layover ahead of a flight.
The pilot was later identified as Sunny Asaldekar, a man in his forties, who had been found unconscious in his hotel room on Sep 11 evening during a scheduled layover ahead of a flight.
An Air India pilot on Friday passed away in Delhi during a scheduled layover ahead of his next flight, at The Grand in New Delhi's Vasant Kunj.
The pilot was later identified as Sunny Asaldekar, a man in his forties, who had been found unconscious in his hotel room on Friday evening.
"He was rushed to the hospital immediately, where he was declared dead," Air India told PTI in a statement, condoling the tragic loss of the cockpit crew member.
While initial reports cited cardiac arrest as the reason for Sunny's death, the police told local media outlets that the cause of death would only be confirmed after the arrival of the postmortem report from the Safdarjung Hospital.
A case has already been filed under Section 194 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), 2023, and a probe is underway.
Notably, officials told PTI that the pilot had earlier been employed with Air India Express, and was undergoing conversion training during his switch to Air India just a few months ago, in order to handle the change to widebody aircraft, such as the Boeing 787.
It was during this conversion training that he died, just ahead of his scheduled flight on Sunday morning, as per a Live Hindustan report, though THE WEEK could not independently confirm this.
According to the Delhi Police, the pilot had checked into the hotel on Thursday, and on Friday evening, Sunny's brother contacted the hotel manager, saying that he was not picking up the phone.
It was after this that the hotel manager allegedly accessed Sunny's room using the master key, finding him unconscious inside. A police team had also arrived at the spot based on inputs it received about a guest's ill-health at The Grand.
"Air India is in close touch with his family and is extending all support at this time of grief,” the airline added.