"Very difficult for me to digest the news," a professor of Clive Kunder, the co-pilot of the ill-fated Air India Ahmedabad-London flight, broke down as she remembered her "brilliant and disciplined" student.
Professor Urvashi taught Kunder Physics in Class 11 and 12 in Mumbai's Wilson College.
"Clive was very brilliant student, very disciplined, very punctual, intelligent... His work was very neat, clean, very systematic, said Ms Urvashi, who thinks his "disciplined nature made him a successful pilot".
AI-171 crashed minutes after taking off from Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport in Ahmedabad, killing 241 of the 242 persons on board, including 12 crew members. The plane crashed into the complex of a medical college, killing at least 10 people on the ground.
Ms Urvashi said that she got to know about the tragedy when she watched a report on television about the flight crash. I got to know the "co-pilot was my student Clive".
She said she also spoke to one of Kunder's batchmates about the tragedy. "It was really heartbreaking to talk about him. It's very difficult for me to digest the news also that such a lively young boy wanted to make a career, wanted to live his life very happily, very disciplined, very punctual, very intelligent boy. It was very difficult for me," she said, fighting back tears.
Ms Urvashi said Kunder once told her that he wanted to "do something different".
The aircraft was piloted by Captain Sumeet Sabharwal, a Line Training Captain with 8,200 hours of flying experience, assisted by First Officer Clive Kunder, who had logged 1,100 flying hours.
According to Air Traffic Control (ATC), the aircraft departed Ahmedabad at 1:39 pm IST (0809 UTC) from Runway 23. It issued a MAYDAY call but then ceased responding to subsequent ATC communications, according to a statement from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA).
A formal investigation has been launched by the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) into the deadly crash, Union Civil Aviation Minister Ram Mohan Naidu confirmed on Thursday.
