Pain of parents: How Namansh Syals father learned about his death in Tejas crash at Dubai Air Show
His father, Jagan Nath Syal, was scrolling YouTube for videos of the air show when he came across reports about the fatal crash. For any parent, there could not possibly be a more painful moment than learning of the death of their children.
New Delhi: The Tejas light combat aircraft (LCA Mk-1) crash on Friday at the Dubai Air Show killed an Indian Air Force pilot, Wing Commander Namansh Syal. Hailing from Himachal Pradesh's Kangra district, his demise has been extremely heartbreaking.
A rude shock for a father
His father, Jagan Nath Syal, was scrolling YouTube for videos of the air show when he came across reports about the fatal crash. For any parent, there could not possibly be a more painful moment than learning of the death of their children.
Syal is a retired school principal in the Kangra district. He has reportedly told The Indian Express, "I last spoke to my son yesterday. He told me to watch his performance on TV channels or YouTube during the air show. Around 4 pm today, I was searching for videos of the ongoing air show in Dubai on YouTube when I saw reports about the plane crash.
He added, "Immediately, I called my daughter-in-law, who is also a Wing Commander, to check what happened. Moments later, at least six Air Force officers arrived at our house and I realised something bad had happened to my son."
Namansh's father and mother, Veena Syal, are currently at his house in Tamil Nadu's Coimbatore. He reportedly said that they went there two weeks ago to look after their seven-year-old granddaughter, Aarya Syal, as their daughter-in-law is undergoing training in Kolkata.
'He dreamt big about his life'
Syal said, "Naman joined the defence forces after clearing the NDA exam in 2009. He completed his schooling from Primary School Dalhousie, Army Public School, YoL Cantt Dharamshala and Sainik School, Sujanpur Tira, in Himachal Pradesh. He was excellent in his studies and dreamt big about his life. This incident left us completely shattered.”
The deceased IAF pilot's body would probably be brought back in two days, and his mother is completely shell-shocked, unable to talk. The crash took place during a demonstration at the Dubai Air Show. Aviation experts have reportedly opined that the jet was probably executing a barrel roll, a standard manoeuvre that needs precise judgement, speed, and altitude. According to early assessments, the aircraft was possibly too low or lacked sufficient speed to recover from the inversion, leaving no margin for correction.