Mumbai: Former Air Force fighter pilot Wing Commander Avinash Chikte (Retd) first flew with braveheart Smit Machchhar 14 years ago and remembers that true to his name, Smit was always smiling.
"I feel grief that my young friend has been injured, but also immense pride in the way he handled a very unusual situation in the cockpit, something that we have never trained for," Chikte told PTI.