NEW DELHI: Captain Amit Singh (name changed on request) is among the dozens of Air India pilots who were operating an international flight early Saturday morning (India time) when Chandrayaan-2 was expected to land on the moon. Singh was particularly looking forward to this flight as he, like all other colleagues who would have been in air at that time, received a written message from Air India chairman Ashwani Lohani on Friday to make an inflight announcement, after getting a nod from operations.
The ‘aakaashvaani’ to be made on all domestic and international flights of AI airborne at that time read: “Jai Hind. This is your captain speaking. Congratulations on a historic achievement by Motherland India. India conquers the moon. Vikram, the lander of Indian rocket Chandrayaan, has just landed on the moon. India is now the fourth nation on the planet to achieve this tremendous feat. A moment of immense pride for every Indian. Jai Hind.”
However, the nod to make that announcement did not come from operations as Chandrayaan-2 lost contact when it was 2.1 km from the lunar surface.
