Kanpur, 27 August

A trainee pilot and an instructor were killed on Thursday when a training aircraft crashed in Kanpur along the banks of Ganga, a senior police official said.

The Tecnam aircraft operated by Garg Aviation took off around 11:30 am and crashed about 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 probe agency, AAIB, will investigate the crash and a team of three officials from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) will be visiting the crash site for necessary regulatory oversight and coordination.

Citing preliminary information, the ministry in a statement said a Tecnam P2006T twin-engine aircraft, bearing registration VT-NBV, met with an accident, approximately 5 nautical miles from Kanpur Civil Airport near Ganga Barrage.

"The aircraft was on a training flight in the Local Flying Area of Kanpur civil airport. There were two persons on board, a trainee pilot and an instructor. Both sustained fatal injuries in the accident," the ministry said in a statement.

"The Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) has been informed and will undertake a detailed investigation into the accident in accordance with the applicable rules. The circumstances and cause of the accident will be determined through the investigation," it said.

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.

Police and fire personnel rushed to the site after the crash, cordoned off the area and secured the wreckage as evidence for investigation into the crash, the officer said.

Videos from the crash site showed the aircraft reduced to a wreck, with debris scattered around the area.

A seat was also seen outside the wreckage, though officials have not confirmed whether the pilots attempted to escape the plane.

Commissioner Lal, Additional Commissioners of Police Vipin Tada and Sankalp Sharma and Chief Fire Officer Deepak Sharma went to the spot following the crash.

Police said the DGCA will examine the aircraft's airworthiness, maintenance records and other technical aspects.

The aircraft, which had been with Garg Aviation Ltd, Kanpur, since 2023, had no maintenance-related deficiencies, the company claimed.