Sandeep Puri has spent 46 years taking to the skies.
He started as an Indian Air Force pilot in 1981 and ended his career in the IndiGo cockpit, after more than four decades of takeoffs, turbulence, and safe landings. But the last flight was unlike all the others: in the copilot’s seat there wasn’t a stranger or just any colleague. It was Aastha, his daughter.
For years, she watched him leave home with his suitcase and uniform, not knowing whether she would someday share that same cockpit with him. That day came. Father and daughter flew together on the final route of Sandeep’s career, and when the plane touched down, it wasn’t just a flight coming to an end: it was 46 years of life measured in miles. The image went viral on social media, but for Aastha, it was simply the perfect way to tell her dad that she, too, had learned to fly by watching him.
