Darshan Nair was born in South Africa and moved to Toronto, Canada at age 6. He attended the University of Toronto before acceptance into Canadore College, a flight college in North Bay, Ontario.

He began his aviation career as an aircraft re-fueller to pay for flight school, and was trained to fly airplanes before he learned to fly helicopters. His first helicopter job was flying in the Arctic north coast of Canada.

Nair was a first officer on the Sikorsky S76 aircraft and promoted to captain in 1998. He has flown international operations supporting offshore oil production in Southeast Asia, and is currently flying as S76 captain on Air Ambulance operations in Ontario, Canada for the province's service.

Nair was involved with the initial organizing drive for EMS helicopter pilots working for Canadian Helicopters Ltd. He was a member of the bargaining committee for the first-ever bargaining agreement for helicopter pilots employed in the private sector in Canada. He acted as a base representative for the Toronto operation, and accepted the nomination for Unit Chairman in 2009.