A flight instructor was killed and another trainee pilot injured when a small aircraft belonging to a flying school crashed in Jalgaon district of north Maharashtra.
The aircraft, understood to be TECNAM P-2008 Jc, crashed near Wardi village in in Chopda taluka of Jalgaon district, at around 4 pm. The area where the mishap took place is part of the Satpura mountainranges.
The two-seater aircraft of Italian make belonged to the NMIMS Academy of Aviation (NMIMSAA). The flying school, located at Shirpur in Dhule district, is affiliated to the reputed Shri Vile Parle Kelavani Mandal (SVPKM)’s group of educational institutions in Mumbai.
The Academy identified the deceased flight instructor as Noorul Ameen (28) from Bengaluru in Karnataka, and the trainee-pilot as Anshika Gurjar (22) who is a residential student of the SVKM NMIMS Academy of Aviation from Khatgaon in Madhya Pradesh. Anshuka reportedly suffered multiple fractures in the mishap, but is ‘out of danger’.
Amrish Patel, who is a senior BJP MLA and president of SVPKM, said that the injured trainee pilot Anshuka was being Anushka was being shifted to Mumbai’s Nanavati Hospital for treatment of fractures by late tonight or in the early hours of Saturday.
Taking to twitter, Union Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia said: “Shocked to hear about the tragic crash of a training aircraft that belonged to the NMIMS Academy of Aviation, Maharashtra. An investigation team is being rushed to the site”.
“Unfortunately, we lost the flight instructor & the trainee was severely injured. My heartfelt condolences to the bereaved family & prayers for the trainee’s quick recovery,” the Minister said in another tweet.
Describing the incident as “unfortunate”, Amrish Patel said that the aircraft was new. “The pilot had 500 hours of flying experience. He had joined us in January this year. We are still not sure what went wrong,” Patel said.
The aircraft involved in the mishap was in a good condition. It had been given airworthiness and training certificates barely six months ago. The aircraft had joined the academy's existing fleet of 3 other small trainer aircraft for training the students.