Pune Girl Survived A Plane Crash At 1,000 Feet. Now She's A Licensed Commercial Pilot
Two years after a mid-air engine failure, Bhavika Rathod is now a certified commercial aviator, showcasing her resilience and determination from trainee to licensed pilot
Two years ago, a terrifying mid-air engine failure nearly ended 24-year-old Bhavika Rathod's dream of becoming a pilot. Today, she's a certified commercial aviator, proof that grit can sometimes be stronger than gravity.
On July 25, 2022, Bhavika, then a trainee at Carver Aviation Flying School in Baramati, Pune, took off on what was supposed to be a routine cross-country flight. It was a milestone she had long awaited. Having logged 150 hours out of the 200 required to earn her Commercial Pilot Licence (CPL), the finish line was in sight. But just 15 nautical miles into the flight, flying at an altitude of 1,000 feet in a Cessna 152, the aircraft's engine suddenly cut out.
'I heard the sputter, and then there was silence…" Bhavika recalled, adding that her heart had 'stopped for a second", but her training didn't.
With no chance to return to the airstrip and precious seconds slipping away, Bhavika scanned the landscape and spotted a patch of wet land near Kadbanwadi village in Indapur. Remembering her instructors' guidance that such terrain reduced friction and improved crash-landing outcomes, she maneuvered the powerless aircraft and brought it down safely. The plane landed just 100 feet from a residential area; miraculously, no one on the ground was hurt. Bhavika escaped with only minor injuries.
But what followed wasn't just a physical recovery but psychological too. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) launched an enquiry during which Bhavika was subjected to intense questioning for three days before being placed on a mandatory 'cooling-off" period, temporarily grounding her from further flying.
She almost did. For two months, Bhavika contemplated giving up aviation altogether and enrolling in a BBA course to join her family's business. But her family had other plans. 'They refused to let me quit," she said, adding that her parents and friends practically staged an intervention which reminded her why she started.
In December 2022, five months after the crash, Bhavika received a no-objection certificate for corrective training. The following month, she returned to Carver Aviation. 'The first takeoff after returning was the hardest," she said. 'It was the same runway. Same aircraft. Same sky. But this time, I had more fear… and more determination," she explained.
By September 2023, Bhavika's comeback was complete after she received her official Commercial Pilot Licence. Since then, she's completed a 45-day type rating course for the Airbus A320 in Spain. Now, she's eyeing the skies again; this time as a first officer for a major airline, with dreams of eventually commanding the mighty Airbus A380.
Raised in the working-class neighbourhood of Swargate in Pune, Bhavika studied at Muktangan English School. Her passion for aviation was ignited by a visiting pilot during a school lecture. After finishing Class 12 in 2019, she enrolled in flight school despite pandemic-related setbacks.
view comments
First Published:
July 03, 2025, 18:11 IST
Disclaimer: Comments reflect users' views, not News18's. Please keep discussions respectful and constructive. Abusive, defamatory, or illegal comments will be removed. News18 may disable any comment at its discretion. By posting, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
New Indian Express
7 hours ago
- New Indian Express
Kempegowda International Airport most prone to bird strikes among airports in South India
BENGALURU: Bengaluru's Kempegowda International Airport (KIA), which is accustomed to global admiration for its prized Terminal 2, has found itself associated with a concerning statistic. According to data revealed by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), KIA stands out as the airport most prone to bird strikes in the South Indian region, while ranking fourth behind Delhi, Mumbai and Ahmedabad at the national level. A total of 535 bird strikes were reported at KIA from 2022 till May 2025. Hyderabad and Chennai registered 420 and 379 respectively, for the same time period. Bird strikes are inadvertent collisions between aircraft and birds, often with the former hitting flocks of the latter. While statistically harmless in most cases, bird strikes happen during the two most critical phases of flying: take-off and landing. Most bird strikes cause critical harm, if any, to a single engine, which still gives pilots the leeway to execute emergency landings. However, in one of the most infamous cases of bird strikes, US Airways Flight 1549 – an Airbus A320 – had to make an emergency landing on the Hudson River, having suffered a dual-engine failure after a flock of geese hit the aircraft shortly after take-off. But why is Bengaluru unfortunately above the rest of the South Indian airports in this regard? As MB Krishna, a city-based ornithologist, shares, 'The whole area where the airport is built, used to be a lake. Additionally, the surrounding areas are agricultural, which explains the bird population.' Krishna added that since the bird species have been there long before the airport came up, their lives should be prioritised. According to a spokesperson from Bangalore International Airport Limited (BIAL), the airport's 'in-house Bird Aircraft Strike Hazard Management (BASHM) team employs a data-driven approach that goes beyond regulatory requirements to effectively minimise bird strike risks. Real-time automated bird monitoring systems alert our bird chasing team, enabling immediate response. Daily data analysis informs our adaptive wildlife hazard management plans and predictive forecasting of bird activity, optimising deterrent deployment and runway usage'.
New Indian Express
15 hours ago
- New Indian Express
Human error, inadequate infra at Goa airport caused Air India plane's aborted take-off: AAIB report
NEW DELHI: Human error and the lack of adequate infrastructure at Goa's Manohar International Airport led to the aborted take-off of an Air India flight to Hyderabad last December, the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) has said in its final report on the incident released on Monday. The incident involving Air India flight AIC 2592, carrying 151 passengers and 7 crew members, occurred on the night of December 5, 2024. The flight was stopped mid-roll just as it was accelerating for take-off. The AAIB, which investigated the event under the Aircraft Rules, 2017, has now released its 16-page final report. The Airbus A320 was rolling down the taxiway at 124 knots around 9.17 pm when the Air Traffic Control (ATC) noticed the aircraft was not on the assigned runway. Visibility at the time was 3,000 metres. The flight had mistakenly entered Taxiway 'A' instead of Taxiway 'A5', which had been assigned for take-off on Runway 28. The aircraft was immediately ordered to abort take-off, and the pilots complied. The AAIB classified the incident as a "serious incident." Specifying the probable causes for the incident, the probe report said there was a "Situational Awareness Deficit" on the part of the crew. The take-off clearance given by the ATC likely caused the crew's cognitive focus to shift entirely towards the take-off.
NDTV
a day ago
- NDTV
Kolkata-Bound Air India Express Plane Faces Tech Snag, Returns To Bengaluru
New Delhi: A Kolkata-bound Air India Express plane returned to Bengaluru due to a technical issue on Sunday evening. The flight IX2718, operated with an Airbus A320 aircraft, returned after being airborne for over two hours, according to information available on flight tracking website "One of our flights from Bengaluru returned to the airport following a technical issue. The aircraft circled to reduce fuel and weight before executing a safe, precautionary landing," an Air India Express spokesperson said in a statement on Monday. An alternate aircraft was arranged to ferry the passengers to Kolkata. The airline is investigating the technical snag in the aircraft. Details about the number of passengers onboard the flight were not disclosed.
