The Maharashtra government has decided to accord a state funeral to Captain Deepak Sathe, pilot-in-command of the ill-fated Air India Express plane that crashed in Kerala last week. Lauding Sathe, the Chief Minister's Office said that his life shall inspire young pilots to achieve the 'Sword of Honour'. The funeral of Captain Sathe will be held in Mumbai later in the day.<br />'' <br />''The Air India Express flight from Dubai with 190 people, including a six-member crew, overshot the tabletop runway during landing at the Kozhikode airport in the midst of heavy rain and poor visibility on Friday, fell into a valley 35 feet below and broke into two pieces killing 18 passengers. Both the pilots lost their lives too.<br />'' <br />''After the plane crash, Captain Sathe's wife Sushma and one of their sons had gone to Kerala to collect his mortal remains, which were brought to Mumbai in a flight on Sunday. The body was then kept at the Air India facility near Terminal 2 of the Chhatrapati Shivaji international airport for some time before being taken to Bhabha Hospital.<br />'' <br />''Sathe was a decorated former Wing Commander of the Indian Air Force and had served at the force's flight testing establishment. As informed by his cousin, he survived an air crash in the early 1990s when he was in the Air Force and was hospitalised for six months. He had suffered multiple injuries on his skull in that incident, but due to his strong will power and passion he cleared the test and started flying again.<br />