Khandelwals: A Family of Pilots

Though having an unusual name for a man, Sheetal Khandelwal an ex-Air India pilot, had such a great passion for flying that he inspired his two sons and a daughter to become commercial pilots. Lo behold, his daughter even got married to a pilot bringing the tally to five pilots in the family.

Khandelwal is a soft –spoken and humble man; he is a first generation aviator with 25,000 flying hours in his career. He also had the rare honor of flying the Late PM Rajeev Gandhi in HS-748 aircraft. He picked up the passion for flying at the time as a NCC cadet in Indore where he got an opportunity to fly a Tiger Moth aircraft for his ‘C’ certificate and that was a turning point of his life for his love for flying which blossomed into his becoming a commercial pilot.

All of the above pilots are residents of Powai, making it a unique feat. The story began when a young Khandelwal, third of the eleven siblings at Indore ran from his family to pursue his dream of flying. He muses, “I used to help my father in his sugar retail shop and for a child who was just studying in 6th standard and I used to come directly to shop just after school and worked there till the shop closed at night. On Sunday I had to do all pending shop work. Rest of the time which I got went in completing my school homework and I got very little time to sleep.”

Things changed completely when Sheetal was in 10th standard. At the time of his sister’s marriage what he heard from his father really shocked him. After an exhausting day during the marriage when a young Sheetal was resting that he heard a conservation of his father who was sitting at short distance with relatives. His father was praising him and appreciating his hard work and then announced that he need not study anymore and should work with his father. Sheetal, who wanted to study, decided that day not to go to the shop anymore. This led to serious clashes between him and his father. Circumstances made him to leave home, even constant cajoling by his siblings to hold him back was of no use and he was a free bird.

Having abandoned his house this 15 year old boy, who had passed the board exam with flying colors, now without money and no shelter survived for 19 days with no food and no shelter, and slept wherever he got place, on footpaths and in gardens. After 19 days, he got a typist’s job, but what he got paid was not enough to feed him, he had to just not feed himself but also pay his fees for further studies. He then switched to become a tutor, and barely managed to continue his studies. Sheetal, who aspired to become a doctor, had to step back because of lack of money.
21/07/15 Aditya Singh/Planet Powai