Akash Ananth, 24 year old trainee pilot died in a mid-car crash in Melbourne Australia while trying his solo flight.  As per Herald Sun (http://news.com.au/heraldsun), the wing of his Cessna-150 clipped with that of another aircraft and crashed into a  garage. The newspaper further add that Ananth died on impact but may have saved dozens of life by guiding the plan away from the school, Chetlenham Easy Primary.

The site adds that a Metropolitian Fire Brigade spokeswoman said  “We were very lucky that the pilot’s skill allowed him to land the aircraft where did did. Had he crashed across the road, he would have gone straight into the primary school. He managed to land the aircraft in such a way as to protect the public. He was a bit of a hero.” The other aircraft, which managed to land safetly, was a Piper Warrior flown by another Indian Trainee and his Australian woman instructor.

Ananth was staying at Melbourne with his cousin Dilip, engineer by profession and as per his father, Anantha Padmanabha, this was his third solo flight. He said he spoke to Akash 3 days back and he confident about his flying. He was the only son to Anantha Padmanabha and Asha Anantha. His Uncle continued to say that we are proud of him as his act saved lives of so many people.

Ananth studied in Kumnarans School Bangalore and did his PUC at Vijaya College. He wanted to become a pilot and his ambition took him to Australia where he joined Melbourne’s Royal Victorian Aero Club and was undergoing training to become a commerical pilot.

We saluate Akash for his brave deed. Indeed a hero in his death!

See reports on Australian News Channel
Trainee pilot 'never stood a chance'
Trainee pilot 'never stood a chance'

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