New Delhi, August 27: A trainee pilot and an instructor were killed on Thursday after a training aircraft crashed in Kanpur along the banks of the Ganga, a senior police official said, according to PTI. The Tecnam aircraft, operated by Garg Aviation, took off at around 11:30 am and crashed nearly 20 minutes later near Nathapurwa village in the Katri area. The cause of the crash was not immediately known.
The Civil Aviation Ministry said the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) will investigate the crash, while a team of three officials from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) will visit the site for regulatory oversight and coordination.
According to preliminary information released by the ministry, the Tecnam P2006T twin-engine aircraft, bearing registration VT-NBV, met with an accident around five nautical miles from Kanpur Civil Airport, near Ganga Barrage. The aircraft was on a training flight in the local flying area of the airport, with a trainee pilot and an instructor on board. Both suffered fatal injuries.
Commissioner of Police Raghubir Lal told PTI that instructor Sachin Bhatia from Gujarat and trainee pilot Abhishek Pujari from Karnataka died in the crash. Bhatia had around 3,000 hours of flying experience, he said.
