The pilot from 2019. The one with the thick moustache who shot down a Pakistani F-16 and then spent those three days in their custody. The guy who kept saying “Sir, I am fine” even when everything was going against him.
Well, he’s left the Air Force now.
After more than twenty-two years, Group Captain Abhinandan took premature retirement and joined a private airline called FLY91. He left the IAF on 31 March this year and started flying with them in August. He’s forty-three. He still had many years left in service, but he chose to go.
No big announcement. No interviews. Nothing. That’s how he is. When someone asked the airline about it, they just said staff matters are private and refused to say more. Abhinandan himself hasn’t spoken a word in public about it either.
How it all happened in 2019. After the Pulwama attack, India hit Balakot. Next day the Pakistanis came across. Abhinandan was flying a MiG-21 Bison from Srinagar. He got into a dogfight, brought down an F-16, and then his own plane got hit. He ejected and landed on their side. They held him for almost three days before he came back home on 1 March. The whole country was watching. Later he got the Vir Chakra and was promoted to Group Captain.
Now he’s going to fly those ATR 72-600 planes for FLY91. It’s a small regional airline that started in 2024. Bases in Goa and Hyderabad. They fly to smaller cities mostly – places like Kochi, Pune, Bengaluru. Six planes right now. Simple routes for ordinary people.
A lot of IAF pilots do this after some years. The training and the calm they have is useful in commercial flying. For Abhinandan it means he still gets to be in the cockpit. Different plane, different job, but still flying.
He’s always been the quiet type. Even after becoming famous he never made noise. So this silent move from fighter pilot to airline pilot feels exactly like him. No drama, just the next step.
From that MiG-21 to these regional ATRs – same man, new sky. Many people will be glad he’s still up there doing what he knows best.
Sources: PTI reports that came in The Hindu, Business Standard, Indian Express, Hindustan Times, India Today, Times of India and a few other papers.
@Rohit Manral
