'Ritu was very excited, it was her first flight'

new delhi: ritu malik was excited when asked to accompany congress leader madhavrao scindia to kanpur. this was her first flight as pilot after completing training earlier this month. "i had met her at the airport a few days ago. we had gone to meet our instructor from the indira gandhi rashtriya udan academy in rai bareilly. after we picked up our logbooks she said goodbye. i never imagined it would be for ever," said ritu's friend pratibha yadav. a resident of rohtak, ritu, 21, joined the jindal group on september 18. "she was an only child and it was her mother's wish that prompted ritu to mould the interest into a career. ritu, however, lost her mother last year. her father is deputy commissioner, excise, in rohtak," said ritu's childhood friend vishal parimar. while ritu was studying engineering in vaish college, rohtak, she had enrolled with karnal flying club to get a commercial pilot's licence. "it was surprising how she managed the two. but her passion for flying ensured that she did not miss a single session at karnal," said pratibha, her senior in the flying school. after completing her commercial pilot's training last april, ritu went back to rohtak and completed her engineering course. on july 14, ritu joined the indira gandhi rashtriya udan academy in rai bareilly. "she qualified for the multi-engine c-90 training programme. she was flying this aircraft on sunday," said parimar. pratibha said ritu was an integral part of her life. waiting for her friend's body at palam airport, she said: "she could not live without me and so couldn't i. it will be tough." vivek gupta is remembered as a fine flying officer. originally from lucknow gupta, in his mid-thirties, lived in south extension. he had recently gone to hissar to take part in a training programme. his friend and chief flying inspector of the delhi flying club m s beniwal said: "i had met him at the training camp earlier this week. he was happy with his current employer and had ambitious plans."