Gujarat plane crash: Trainer aircraft crash-lands in Amreli, pilot dies

A trainee pilot was killed on Tuesday, April 22, after a trainer aircraft crash-landed at Amreli in Gujarat, reported the news agency PTI, citing local police officials aware of the development. 

On Tuesday afternoon, after hitting a tree on its way down, the aircraft crashed into an open plot in a residential area of the Amreli district in Gujarat. The aircraft immediately caught fire after the landing.

According to the news report, the trainer aircraft was owned by a private aviation academy. A video shared by the news agency ANI shows the remains of the aircraft after the accident. 

Pilot's death?

The trainer aircraft crashed into the residential area at around 12:30 p.m. due to unknown reasons, reportedly killing the trainee pilot at the scene of the accident.

Fire officer HC Gadhvi told the news agency ANI that they received the information about the crash, and after rushing to the location of the accident, they could see the pilot inside the plane. 

They rushed him to the nearest hospital and then declared the student pilot dead in the accident.

“We received information about a plane crash at around 12:52 PM. The team immediately reached the spot as soon as the information was received. We controlled the fire. The pilot of the plane was seen inside. The pilot was sent to the hospital. The pilot died in the accident,” Fire officer HC Gadhvi told the news agency on Tuesday.

What happened to the aircraft?

The reasons for the crash remain unknown, but the Police Superintendent of Amreli told PTI that the pilot was flying solo, and the aircraft had taken off from the Amreli airport on Tuesday, before the crash.

As per the agency reports, the aircraft crashed near the Shastri Nagar area, caught fire and was engulfed in flames. 

“After taking off from the Amreli airport with a male trainee pilot, the trainer aircraft of an aviation academy, which operates from the airport, crashed into a residential area. The trainee pilot, who was flying solo, died in the crash while the aircraft was gutted in flames. No one else was injured in the accident,” Amreli Superintendent of Police, Sanjay Kharat, told the news agency.

Kharat also mentioned that the aviation academy whose aircraft crashed on Tuesday was based in Delhi, and they provide flight training from the Amreli airport. Investigation into the accidental death and crash case is active to find out the reason behind the accident.