Hours before the fatal crash that killed Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar and four others, the aircraft’s young co-pilot sent an unexpected message home — a quiet farewell that would become her last.

Shambhavi Pathak, the co-pilot of the aircraft that crashed on Wednesday while carrying Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, had sent a rare “good morning” message to her grandmother shortly before take-off.

The message turned out to be her final communication.

Besides Pawar, Captain Sumit Kapoor, co-pilot Shambhavi Pathak, flight attendant Pinky Mali and Pawar’s personal security officer Vidip Jadhav were killed when the Learjet 45 aircraft flying from Mumbai to Baramati crashed near Baramati airport in Pune district.

Shambhavi, 25, was the daughter of retired Indian Air Force pilot Vikram Pathak.

Speaking to PTI from her home in Vasant Vihar, Gwalior, her grandmother Meera Pathak said she was surprised to receive the message.

“She usually didn’t message regularly. That morning, she sent a simple ‘good morning’. I never imagined it would be the last,” she said.

Meera Pathak recalled that her granddaughter studied at Air Force Vidya Bharti School in Gwalior till Class V during her father’s posting at the local Air Force Station.

After his transfer, the family moved to Delhi’s Lodhi Colony.

Shambhavi later pursued commercial pilot training in New Zealand and had been flying frequently to domestic and international destinations, including Delhi, London and Russia.

“She loved flying and was very dedicated to her profession,” her grandmother said.

She said that around 11 AM, her younger son called to inform her that Shambhavi was among the passengers on the plane that crashed and that Ajit Pawar had died.

Later, Shambhavi’s father and Meera Pathak’s elder son called to inform the family that they were travelling to Pune to receive the body.

Meera Pathak’s neighbour, Usha Uniyal, told PTI Videos that Shambhavi was very intelligent in her studies and playful by nature.

She said that whenever Shambhavi visited Gwalior, she never missed an opportunity to meet her grandmother.

Another neighbour said that Shambhavi had come to Gwalior on the death anniversary of her grandfather in 2024, and again on October 12, 2025.

According to Flight Radar, the aircraft took off from Mumbai at 8:10 AM and disappeared from radar around 8:45 AM. The aircraft crashed a minute later, police said.

Pawar was travelling from Mumbai to Baramati to address public meetings as part of the campaign for the Zilla Parishad elections to be held in the state on February 5.