Hyderabad: Two pilots, including a trainee, were killed after their Cessna aircraft crashed near cotton fields of Vikarabad, about 100 kms away from Hyderabad, on Sunday.
The aircraft had lost contact with the Begumpet Station in Hyderabad after 11.55 am.
The trainee aircraft took off from Rajiv Gandhi Aviation Academy at Begumpet in inclement weather and latter crashed in the cotton fields in Sultanpur village of Vikarabad district of Telangana, about 100 km from here.
Local residents and farmers rushed to the site and alerted the police. Police removed the bodies from the crash and the wreckage site. The aircraft was on a regular training sortie when it lost control of the radar and later crashed.
Ravinder Reddy, in-charge DSP, Vikarabad, identified the victims as Vishal Prakash, 24, a native of Delhi, and Amanpreet Kaur, 22, of Punjab. The bodies of the pilot and the trainee, were found close to the Mr Reddy said that Vishal Prakash had completed his training about three months ago and had a pilot’s licence.
Amanpreet Kaur was still undergoing training. The plane took off from the Begumpet station and lost contact with the ground station after flying for over a hour crash site. The police have sent the bodies for autopsy to the Vikarabad area hospital.
A senior pilot, on condition of anonymity, said, “The plane was going from east to west. Clouds were coming from the west. Due to this, the turbulence was very high. The Cessna is a light aircraft and when they come in contact with such turbulent weather conditions, mishaps can occur.”
