Chhaju Majra mourns trainee pilot’s death in crash

Shashi Pal Jain

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Kharar, October 7

A pall of gloom descended on Chhaju Majra village near here after the news of 21-year-old trainee pilot, Amanpreet Kaur Sidhu, who died in a plane crash near Vikarabad in Telangana on Sunday, reached here.

An upcoming pilot, Amanpreet was going to complete her training very soon. She, along with her instructor Prakash Vishal, met with the mishap when the trainee pilot lost control of the aircraft due to high-velocity winds.

Her family members said she was probably the first girl from the village who dreamt of becoming a pilot. She passed her Class XII from APJ School and was pursuing a four-and-a-half-year course to become a pilot. She had already completed 250 hours of her total 300 hours of flying. She was to complete the remaining hours very soon.

Her father Kuldeep Singh, a marginal farmer, spent lakhs on her education. The victim’s mother Ranjit Kaur was inconsolable.

Her brother Amarbir Singh (13) said on Raksha Bandhan, she had brought a gift for him. With tears in his eyes, he said he never knew it would be their last meeting. He recalled that his sister wished him on his birthday on September 22. She was planning to come home this Diwali, he added.

Amanpreeet had spoken to her family members before her plane crashed yesterday.

Her father has gone to Telangana to bring her body here.

Sukhbir Singh, a former sarpanch of the village, said Amanpreet was a very talented girl.