NEW DELHI: “Now, even as a passenger, I will always be looking at the people around me to make sure everyone is okay and there is nothing wrong. A lingering doubt will persist.” This is how Captain Devi Sharan — commander of Indian Airlines plane IC 814 hijacked in December 1999 — will travel here after operating his last flight as a pilot on Saturday and retiring on his 65th birthday. Joining the former Indian Airlines in 1985, the star pilot hung up his boots after 40 years. in the flight cabin that has given him memories (and nightmares) for a lifetime.
“The kidnapping of IC 814 taught me that life is very unpredictable and that you must always be prepared to defend yourself. They were the most difficult days of my life and my only goal was to save the lives of everyone on that plane. I hope and pray that no crew member, passenger or anyone else relives those moments,” Sharan told TOI on Sunday as he prepares to board a series of long flights around the world over the next year that will take him to Antarctica. and Siberia, among others. places.
He Kandahar kidnapping It was not the only time this pilot and some others from the former Indian Airlines had a brush with danger. He, along with Captain SPS Suri (the pilot flew the hijacked former Indian Airlines plane back home on January 1, 2000), had another date with danger 12 years later. This time, the two and their fellow cabin crew members were trapped in civil war-torn Libya and were assaulted by youths armed with AK 47s on the city streets. Luckily, everyone was unharmed.
Captain Sharan did his flight training at Karnal in 1984 and was then recruited by the erstwhile Indian Airlines (which merged with Air India in 2007) the following year. It started with the Boeing 737-200, then operated the Airbus A320 and A330 (one of which was hijacked bound for Kandahar). After the merger with AI, he flew the A330 and then the B787 Dreamliner. His last flight as a pilot was operating a Dreamliner from Melbourne to Delhi on 4 January. The crew of this flight gave him a special farewell.
“With the same enthusiasm of a young man who once joined this airline, I now turn the page and embark on the golden years of my life,” he said in an email to his colleagues. Once his year-long world tour is over, Captain Sharan plans to make agriculture in karnal and may also be aboard the mega training facility that AI is creating.
