Kerala teen’s dream of becoming pilot dies with her in Manila crash

Thiruvananthapuram: A teenaged Kerala girl who aspired to be the youngest Indian woman commercial pilot died north of Philippines on Sunday in a crash while learning to fly a Cessna light aircraft.
Trainee pilot Varsha Gopinath, aged 18 years and two months, her instructor Patrick Philip Teruel and another student Reena Salve, also from India, died when their light craft collided with each other over Malolos City north of Manila.
Varsha, who had completed her higher secondary at a city school, used to reside near Thiruvananthapuram international airport and her ambition was to be an astronaut. The commercial pilot licence was the first step towards making it to the big day.
She had joined the course offered by the private Air Titan company in Kochi and she had finished the ground classes two months ago before taking up training abroad.
Pillai said prohibitive training costs in the country made her choose the foreign option.
Varsha had completed nearly 40 hours out of the total 200 flying hours required to earn the wings.
The family received the first message from the company about something amiss but the confirmation came this morning. The company was arranging to reach the body here in a couple of days, said Pillai.
Pillai was the managing director at a private firm in Muscat. Her elder sister is an airhostess with Irish Airlines.
Varsha would possibly have never opted to train abroad had the State Government-owned Kerala Aviation Training Centre (KTAC) flying club here had been functional. Its Chief Flight Instructor, Capt Anand J Bodas, had quit more than a year ago, a sad man.
Says Ratheesh Babu, ground engineer with KTAC: “The pilot instructor quit his job last year after the club, which depends on Government funds, couldn’t manage the finances”.
10/07/07 John Mary/Peninsula On-line, Qatar