Indian-Origin Pilot Dies In US Chopper Crash Just Hours after Marriage

Washington: An Indian-origin man was killed in a helicopter crash in Georgia, United States, just hours after saying “I do”. Twenty-six-year-old Dave Fiji, a Delta Air Lines pilot whose family traces its roots to Kerala, was on his way to his honeymoon with his bride when the Robinson R66 flying them crashed near their Dawsonville wedding venue, according to media reports.

The chopper pilot, whose name has not been released by authorities yet, was also killed in the crash, according to a report by Atlanta News First.  Dave Fiji’s bride, Jessni, a nurse by profession, survived the crash and is recovering at a metro Atlanta hospital, the report said.

“My son was so happy,” George Fiji, Dave’s father, told Atlanta News First. According to his father, Dave married Jessni on Friday, whom he met at New Testament Church a decade ago. Around 400 guests attended the couple’s wedding at The Revere in Dawsonville.

After their wedding reception, the newlyweds boarded a Robinson R66 helicopter bound for DeKalb-Peachtree Airport, Georgia’s second-busiest airport. The flight was reportedly a special sendoff for the couple before they spent the night at a downtown Atlanta hotel.

The helicopter never reached its destination and crashed in a remote wooded area of Dawson County near Mount Vernon Drive, not very far from the wedding venue.