Training Aircraft Crashes Near Ganga Barrage in Kanpur; Instructor and Trainee Pilot Killed

India: A private training aircraft crashed near the Ganga Barrage in Kanpur on Thursday morning, killing both the instructor pilot and the trainee pilot on board, officials said.

The twin-engine, four-seater Tecnam aircraft, operated by Kanpur-based Garg Aviation, took off from the Garg Aviation Training Centre around 11:30 am and crashed about 20 minutes later, around 11:50 am, in a field near Nathapurwa village in the Gwaltoli police station area while returning.

Kanpur Police Commissioner Raghuveer Lal confirmed the deaths and identified the deceased as instructor pilot Sachin Bhatia, a resident of Gujarat with around 3,000 flying hours, and trainee pilot Abhishek Pujari from Karnataka. Both died in the incident.

Police have cordoned off the crash site. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has been informed and will conduct a detailed investigation into the cause of the accident. Rescue and fire services teams were deployed at the scene.