Gerald Babb (left) and Sidhartha Maitra were close friends and partners in Saratoga-based Floreat.
Two friends, partners die in private airplane crash
By Kara Chalmers
Saratoga residents Gerald R. Babb, 52, and Sidhartha Maitra, 50, loved to fly, and they died while doing what they love. They were killed in a private airplane crash Jan. 22 in San Antonio, Texas.
Babb and Maitra were both pilots and the only passengers on the seven-seat corporate aircraft when it crashed shortly after takeoff from San Antonio International Airport at 2:30 p.m. The plane spiraled nose-first into a wooded area about a mile from the airport, where it exploded near some businesses and a movie theater. No one on the ground was injured.
According to Lisa Burkhardt-Worley, airport spokeswoman, it is safe to assume Babb was flying the plane, a Mitsubishi MU-2B-26A, because his name was on the flight plan filed at the airport that day. Babb had been flying planes for more than 30 years and had logged some 2,000 hours as a pilot, according to his daughter, Lindsey Babb.
The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating the plane's two engines to find out the cause of the crash, but the results won't be known for about six months, Burkhardt-Worley said. The MU-2 model plane is designed in Japan and manufactured in Texas. In the 1980s, the NTSB investigated MU-2 crashes, many of which involved engine failures or fuel problems. Nearly 100 people died in those accidents.
Burkhardt-Worley added that investigators from Honeywell (which built the plane's engines), the Federal Aviation Administration and Mitsubishi representatives are assisting in the probe.
Family and friends in Saratoga expressed surprise and sadness when they learned of the tragedy. "It's a big shock and a big loss for all of Saratoga," said Saratoga High School Principal Kevin Skelly, who knows both men's families.
Babb and Maitra were longtime Saratoga residents. In addition to being involved in their children's schools, the two were active in the Saratoga business community. Maitra founded Floreat, a communications software company, some 10 years ago. Babb's wife, Wendy, works at the office, which is located on Saratoga Avenue near the Village. Babb was Maitra's business partner and his friend. Floreat co-workers Siva Kumar and Yevel Belyavskiy said that because of the close friendship between Babb and Maitra, they were dubbed "Tom and Jerry," after the cartoon characters, around the office.
"I'd like to say both are happy souls," Kumar said. "We were a close-knit group--more like a close family type of thing," he said as he pointed to a photo in Floreat's office. The photo shows Maitra, Babb, their families and other co-workers with families in Alaska, where they were all on vacation together.
The Babb family has lived in the Argonaut Elementary School neighborhood of Saratoga since 1989. Babb coached and refereed American Youth Soccer Organization teams in Saratoga and was active in his son's Boy Scout Troop 535, according to his wife. He also coached softball and baseball teams. Besides flying, Babb's family said he loved sailing, golf and helping his children with sports and other activities. Babb's daughters, Lindsey and Ashley, are students at Texas A&M University, which is their father's alma mater. Babb's son, Preston, is a student at Saratoga High School.
"He was very loving and always very active in our lives," Lindsey Babb said of her father. "He was very much a family man."
According to family members, Babb had traveled to San Antonio by commercial plane to visit his parents, Crawford and Annie Bruce Babb.
The Maitra family has lived in Saratoga for about 25 years, according to a close relative. Maitra's daughter Sonali and son Avik are students at Stanford University.
Maitra, who had photos of mountains in Tibet lining the walls of his office at Floreat, loved to fly and to travel. He and his family traveled together often, co-workers said. They took a trip to view a solar eclipse in Turkey for Avik's 18th birthday, said Jackie Schmidt-Posner, a family friend.
"He had such a zest for life," Schmidt-Posner said of Maitra. "He wasn't waiting till some later time to do things. He really lived his life."
And his wife and children were just as adventurous, she said.
"They're just a family of bright lights," she said. "They're smart, they're warm and really generous. The kids are that way because of what they've gotten from their parents.
"It's like a bright light went out," she said.
Memorial services for both men were held last week.
Saratoga, California Since 1955
