City girl, a budding pilot, dies in plane crash in Odisha

City girl, a budding pilot, dies in plane crash in Odisha

A.Selvaraj@timesgroup.com

Chennai:11.06.2020

Airborne, Anis Fathima flashed a smile and waved to her friend on the ground, and that was the last time the 20-year-old girl was seen alive. Aspirations of the young pilot trainee, daughter of a city cop who himself died while on duty, came to an abrupt end when her training flight crashed in Dhenkanal, Odisha. Her remains were brought to Chennai with great difficulty.

Her trainer Sanjib Kumar Jha of Bihar also perished in the accident.

It was perhaps the name of her locality – Vimanam (means aircraft) Nagar – and proximity to the airport that gave wings to her teenage dreams of becoming a pilot. “I want to fly high, and be one of the top-class pilots in India. I also want to build a house for my mom and brother,” Anis told this correspondent during a meeting at Theosophical Society in February.

The two-seater training aircraft did not fly for almost two months due to lockdown, a co-trainee told TOI over phone. “As per protocol, the trainer should fly the aircraft first before allowing trainee pilots to take off. And, the trainer shall also have control the bird on flight. This accident is due to technical snag,” she said.

Another trainee, Akash of Bihar, said Anis was one among the seven trainees pilots and she usually preferred to take to the skies last. On Monday, however, she chose to fly first, at 5.30am, he said.

Anis’s father, an assistant commissioner of police in Tamil Nadu, Mohammad Gori, too had a sudden death in 2011. Gori, whose family hails from Rajapalayam in Virudhunagar district, died in a road accident when he was with the Tamil Nadu Police Academy in 2011. Moments before he breathed his last, Gori clutched the then DGP Anoop Jaiswal’s hands and requested him to take care of his family. It was Jaiswal who helped Anis join the pilot training course. Jaiswal said: “I lost my child Anis. I considered her as my daughter and provided all support in her studies and extra-curricular activities.” On Tuesday night, her elder brother Anup and friends brought Anis’ remains by air to the city. After final rites at their house in Vimanam Nagar in Polichalur near Pallavaram, she was laid to rest near Rahim Masjid in Nagalkeni on Wednesday.

The mangled body of the plane that crashed carrying Anis (inset)