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Georgina Joshi, 24, and four of her classmates at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, were killed on April 20 when the single engine Cessna plane she was piloting crashed even as she was making a final approach for landing.
Joshi, who learned flying lessons from her father Yatish Joshi, a business owner in South Bend, IN, was an experienced pilot with many hours of flying solo and with people.
Known to be very careful behind the controls, she apparently lost control while approaching the Monroe County Airport in Bloomington. The five students were returning home from a community choir rehearsal in Lafayette. The plane disappeared from radar around 11:40 pm.
Robert Samels, Zachary Novak, Garth Eppley, and Chris Carducci were the other students on the plane.
The Federal Aviation Administration released a preliminary report on the fatal crash a half-mile south of the airport. It is believed that the plane had no mechanical problems. A report released by the National Transportation Safety Board Wednesday airport showed that visibility was 100 feet at the time of the crash due to fog. Minimum visibility to make a landing at the airport is 200 feet. Without a cockpit recorder and with no distress call from the plane, the full investigation is expected to take a year or more.
Joshi received her private pilot's license in 2000 and went on to earn her twin engine and IFR ratings. She piloted not only single-engine aircraft but could also fly her father's more complicated twin-engine plane, according to Bob Burke, the owner of BMG Aviation, which rented the aircraft.
Joshi was the eldest of the three children of Louise Addicott and Yatish Joshi. Her brothers Tenzing and Avatar, are students. She is also survived by her grandparents Ray and Marjorie Addicott of Canton, OH, and Ramagauri Joshi of Mumbai.
'Georgie -- as she was known to her friends -- Joshi was a talented soprano and a friend to hundreds in IU's Jacobs School of Music. Colleagues described her as a gentle, selfless person.
'She really was a fantastic pilot. She was very, very careful when flying. She took us around the plane and showed us how she checked (it) every time before she got on,; graduate student Jamie Barton, who had flown with Joshi just a week and a half before to an Indianapolis restaurant, was reported as saying in the local media. Barton said there were times when Joshi flew her plane three times a week. 'Just to take it out to the air field. It was more of a hobby than a career interest,' she said.
She was planning a career in music and friends say she was tremendously talented, with a preference for pieces by Mozart, Bach and other early musicians.
Distinguished professor of music Alan Bennett remembers Joshi's audition to the music school three years ago, which she entered after completing her undergraduate studies of voice at the Royal College of Music in London. 'It was immediately apparent that we would work well together.'
Born and brought up in Indiana, Joshi had received her Bachelor of Music from the Royal College of Music, London, where she studied with Eiddwen Harrhy.
Joshi was pursuing her Master of Music in Voice at Indiana University's Jacobs School of Music. She started singing at a very early age and studied violin from the age of three. Her first stage appearance was in Canton, OH, where she appeared with Players Guild of Canton in a production of the musical, Oliver.
She graduated from John Adams High School where she was a member of the 1999 State Champion Mock Trial Team. She received numerous awards including the YWCA Young Woman of the Year.
While at Indiana University, she performed as a soloist in various concert works including Haydn's Creation, Handel's Solomon, the B-Minor Mass of Bach, Britten's Hymn to St. Cecilia, Mendelssohn's Psalm 42, Schubert's Mass in A Flat Major, Mozart's Litenae Lauritenae K.195, the Mozart Requiem and the Brahms' Deutsches Requiem.
She also appeared with IU Opera Theatre as Clorinda in Cenerentola and Despina in Cosi fan Tutte.