Plane crash victim’s family mourns loss

Jaskinder Samra, the young woman who was killed in a plane crash in Murray County Friday night, had a happy, “bubbly” personality and was training to be a pilot, her family said.
Her cousin, Manny Kooner, said 20-year-old Samra was working to get some flying time under her belt during the trip, which was to be from Florida to Chattanooga, and had hoped to become a professional pilot after her training was complete. Kooner said Samra was with an airline company called Easy Jet. He said she had been in the United States to train for a few months, was living in Florida, and was planning to return home to her parents in the United Kingdom within a few days.
There were three people in the plane when it crashed, and Kooner said the family wasn’t immediately sure who was involved. Shawn Thacker of England was taken to Erlanger Hospital in Chattanooga in critical condition. Abraham George, 24, of a Kissimmee, Fla., address, died following the crash. George is originally from India and is thought to have been the pilot of the single engine Cessna 172, said Murray County Coroner Larry Ballew.
Kooner said Samra’s family is originally from India but had moved to the United Kingdom where Samra was born and was living in Wolverhampton, about 100 miles from London. He said family members have been devastated and distraught as they’ve had difficulty obtaining information from anyone in the United States about exactly what happened.
He said Samra had “a smile that lights up the room,” and a determination to become a pilot despite the fact that the profession is, in some people’s eyes, a male endeavor. A family member paid for her lessons and for her to get her license, he said.
Kooner said Samra leaves behind a 22-year-old brother as well as both parents. He said they are working to have her body brought back to the United Kingdom for burial. Ballew said George’s body will be brought to India.
28/09/10 Rachel Brown/Dalton Daily Citizen

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Categories: Foreign Sep 2010, Safety Sep 2010