On her last flight test, Delhi girl dies in Florida mid-air crash

Smita Sharma

Tribune news servicE

New Delhi, July 18

“The best way to predict the future is to create it,” wrote Nisha Sejwal on her Facebook timeline on December 28 last year. Little did the young aviator know that the dream life she had begun to live would come to an end so abruptly.

Barely 20, Nisha from Delhi was among three persons who died in a rare mid-air collision between two training aircraft in Florida, US, on Tuesday. Jorge Sanchez, 22, and Ralph Knight, 72, were the other two. The planes —- Piper PA-34 and Cessna 172 — belonging to Dean International School smashed into each other over Florida Everglades near Miami.

According to her social media profile, she was an alumnus of DAV Model School, Yusuf Sarai, Delhi, and Amity International School, Saket, also in Delhi.  “MTV Roadies” was among her favourite shows and “The Tiny Stories” her favourite read.

Technically, this was Nisha’s last flight test, said sources, after which she was to get her Commercial Pilot Licence (CPL). She was flying Piper PA-34 along with her examiner and senior pilot Ralph Knight.

According to Star Educare, the India office for Dean International, Nisha was not a novice. She had more than 250 hours of flying experience. “We have lost a promising pilot.The accident was unfortunate and is being probed,” Star Educare Director Manjot Singh Bhasin said.

Dean International School posts regularly about students completing their training programmes on its FB pages. In June, the institute had congratulated Nisha for completing her PPL (Private Pilot Licence) and IFR (Instrument Flight Rating) course in seven months. “Congratulations Nisha. Fantastic job. Thank you so much for being a part of Dean International Flight School and for sending all your friends to Dean. We are truly grateful to students like yourself.”

A few days earlier, Nisha had written a moving post, thanking her parents. “I can’t remember a single time (my parents) ever told me not to do something I wanted to do #AviationForLife,” she wrote. She had joined Dean International School in Florida, that operates from the Miami executive airport, in September last year. There have been at least four serious accidents involving students and aircraft of the school in the past one year. The flight school has a reported history of nearly two dozen incidents, including fatal ones, between 2007 and 2017. The home page of the website announces that of the 7,000 pilots from across the world it has educated since 1994, over 1,000 belong to India.

Earlier this year, the institute was in the news with 30 of its students facing eviction following a payment dispute. Nisha had then reached out to PM Modi and Sushma Swaraj in April on Twitter. Using her twitter handle @SejwalNisha, she wrote: “@SushmaSwaraj #homelessinUSA we are 30 students in Miami and we all are going to be homeless soon. We have been conned by a US citizen. She had made contract with everyone and took advance of 6 months rent. And she says to vacate the house and she has no money to return. Please help (sic).”

MEA sources told The Tribune, “Our Consulate in Atlanta has reached out to Virender Sejwal, brother, and Mayank Panwal, cousin, and conveyed our condolences and assured all possible assistance in early repatriation of the mortal remains of the deceased.”