The Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) has launched an investigation into the accident. A training aircraft crashed in Kanpur on Thursday killing both the instructor Sachin Bhatia and the trainee pilot Abhishek Pujari, officials said.
Garg Aviation was involved in an incident in June where the DGCA not only de-rostered its instructor but also grounded the aircraft after a trainee pilot was injured at Kanpur during a night instructional flight. In Thursday’s incident, the aircraft came down with a loud bang, sending panic through Natthupurwa as villagers rushed towards the fields.
As per preliminary information shared by the regulator, a Tecnam P2006T twin-engine aircraft, bearing registration VT-NBV and operated by Garg Aviation Ltd., Kanpur, met with an accident on Thursday afternoon when it was around five nautical miles from Kanpur Civil Airport, near Ganga Barrage. They also pointed to the poor weather conditions in the area around the time. “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,” a statement from the DGCA read.
A team of three officials from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) departed for the site for necessary regulatory oversight and coordination, the civil aviation regulator said in a statement, adding, “The AAIB has been informed and will undertake a detailed investigation into the accident in accordance with the applicable rules. Local officials said that the aircraft was returning to the airport when the accident took place. “The circumstances and cause of the accident will be determined through the investigation,” the DGCA stated.
