Two pilots killed in training aircraft crash near Kanpur

Two pilots were killed when a twin-engine training aircraft crashed in a field near Nathupurwa village, close to the Ganga Barrage in Kanpur, on Thursday afternoon.

Kanpur Police Commissioner Raghubir Lal identified the deceased as instructor Sachin Bhatia, a resident of Gujarat, and trainee pilot Abhishek Pujari from Karnataka. According to the police, the aircraft took off from the Garg Aviation Training Centre at around 11.30am and crashed at approximately 11.50am while returning to the facility. Both victim bodies were removed from the crash site after police secured the area and restricted access. The four-seater aircraft was a Tecnam twin-engine plane operated by Garg Aviation. The police said Bhatia had around 3,000 hours of flying experience. The aircraft had reportedly been brought to the training centre in 2023.

The aircraft is believed to be a Tecnam P2006T. Garg Aviation’s fleet disclosure lists one Tecnam P2006T among its two multi-engine aircraft based at Kanpur. However, the aircraft type and registration have not yet been officially confirmed by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation. Garg Aviation’s operations team told TOI that the aircraft took off at 5.30am UTC, equivalent to 11am Indian Standard Time. Captain Srijan Agarwal of Garg Aviation, however, said the hospital had not issued any official declaration regarding the status of the pilots. The DGCA has been informed about the accident. A team from the regulator is expected to conduct a detailed technical investigation to determine the cause of the crash. The inquiry will examine the aircraft’s maintenance records, flight operations, weather conditions, pilot experience and other factors.

The crash comes two months after a female cadet pilot from New Delhi was injured at Garg Aviation’s Flying Training Organisation in Kanpur. She suffered a lower-back injury after being struck by the rotating propeller while deboarding a Tecnam P2006T aircraft, registration VT-NBV, following a night instructional sortie on June 26.