Late Learning

Aviation’s Human-Factor Question: A Series of Pilot Deaths in India India’s rapidly expanding airline sector is facing renewed scrutiny over pilot health after a series of deaths involving relatively young commercial pilots over the past three years. According to data compiled by the Safety Matters Foundation and reported by The Wire, at least five Indian commercial pilots under the age of 50 died from non-accidental causes between August 2023 and May 2026. The circumstances varied, and the available evidence does not establish a common cause. The deaths have nevertheless prompted questions about whether the health risks associated with modern airline operations warrant closer examination. Among the cases was 40-year-old IndiGo captain Manoj Subramanyam, who suffered a cardiac arrest at Nagpur Airport in August 2023 shortly before operating a flight. In November that year, 37-year-old Air India captain Himanil Kumar died after collapsing during training at Delhi Airport. Both incidents attracted considerable attention because of the pilots’ relatively young ages. In April 2025, an Air India Express first officer reportedly died following a cardiac event after operating a Srinagar–Delhi service. The issue received renewed attention in April 2026 when two pilots died within approximately 24 hours. Air India captain Tarundeep Singh suffered a reported fatal cardiac event during a layover in Bali. The following day, Akasa Air captain Arjun Naidu, 44, died after a reported heart attack during ground training in Bengaluru. Then, in September, Air India captain Sunny Asaldekar was found unresponsive in his hotel room in Delhi while attending Boeing 787 conversion training. He was in his forties. A post-mortem examination has been conducted, but the final cause of death has not yet been established. Asaldekar’s death should therefore not be categorised alongside the confirmed cardiac cases until the medical findings are available. Nor is there evidence that fatigue or airline working conditions caused the earlier deaths. Cardiovascular events can occur in apparently healthy individuals and have multiple potential risk factors. The broader question, however, is legitimate. Commercial pilots constitute a highly medically screened occupational population. At the same time, airline flying involves irregular schedules, night operations, circadian disruption, time-zone changes, operational pressures and, increasingly, high aircraft utilisation. Safety Matters Foundation has also highlighted a substantial increase in pilots being declared temporarily medically unfit over the past decade, including cases involving cardiovascular and psychological conditions. These figures do not establish causation. They do, however, provide a reason for closer study. The appropriate response is not speculation but epidemiology. India would benefit from an independent longitudinal study examining pilot mortality and morbidity against the size and age profile of the pilot population, while accounting for cardiovascular risk factors, duty patterns, sleep, night flying, workload and recovery periods. Aviation has traditionally treated unexpected events as safety signals rather than isolated anecdotes. The deaths of these pilots deserve the same approach: rigorous analysis, transparent data and evidence-based conclusions. The objective should not be to assign blame. It should be to determine whether there is a pattern — and, if there is, to understand it before the next name is added to the list. @DGCAIndia #dmsca @MoCA_GoI @IATA @RamMNK @staralliance @airindia @AkasaAir @IndiGo6E