Aviation India: Careers

Mumbai: She had always wanted to be a pilot. From a humble, middle-class beginning in Dombivli, 24-year-old Reena Salvi had pursued her sky-high dreams all the way till Philippines. There, for five months, she diligently logged in flying hours for her commercial pilot’s licence. During one such session on Sunday, the aircraft Reena was flying crashed into another flight while landing, killing her on the spot.
At the Salvi residence on Monday, Reena’s father Sahebrao Salvi stoically acknowledged condolences from grieving relatives. While mother Shobha was inconsolable, Sahebrao was trying to come to terms with the loss of his eldest daughter.
“I was told that the plane which she was flying solo had crashed into another plane while landing,” said Salvi. The two people inside the other plane also died. Reena had about 110 hours of flying experience under her belt and was on her way to completing the remaining 200 hours by August this year.
“After her HSC, Reena said she wanted to be a pilot. I told her that we could not afford the fees, but she was adamant. Once she made up her mind about something, she never changed it,” said Sahebrao.
Sahebrao, an employee in the Catering Department of Air-India, had overstretched his resources to support Reena’s dream. The going was anything but easy, as Sahebrao had to provide for his other children—son Sandip and daughters Manisha, Alka, Lakshmi and Chitra.
With the support of her family, Reena had completed the theory papers from a flying academy in Delhi and decided to go to Philippines for a pilot’s licence.
09/07/07 N Ganesh/Mumbai Newsline