SHILLONG: Abhinandan Varthaman, the Indian Air Force pilot who was captured by Pakistan on Wednesday, had stayed with his parents in Shillong.
A Sukhoi 30 pilot, Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman, who was commissioned in 2004 as a Flying Officer, is the son of Air Marshal Simhakutty Varthaman, who served as the AOC-in-C of Eastern Air Command in Shillong from 2012 to 2013.
Though Abhinandan was already in service when his father was the AOC-in-C of the Eastern Air Command, a lot of IAF officials remember him visiting his parents in Shillong on holidays.
His father had joined the IAF as a fighter pilot in 1973, and is among the few select ones who hold the distinction of having flown 40 types of aircraft with over 4,000 flying hours to his credit.
He served as the chief test pilot of the elite Aircraft Systems and Testing Establishment (ASTE) of IAF in Bangalore, and chief flying instructor at fighter training wing in Andhra Pradesh.
