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Maharashtra: Two killed as training aircraft crashes into Gondia river

The plane is a four-seater owned by NFTI to train its students for the 18-month course.

Maharashtra plane crash, nagpur plane crash, plane crash in maharashtra, aircraft crashed, training crashed, Gondia river-aircraft crashed, Wainganga river accident, national flying training institute, india news, maharashtra news, indian express The two were identified as trainer Ranjan Gupta, around 45 years of age, and trainee Himani Kalyan, around 23. ( (Source: Express photo)

A TRAINING aircraft from National Flying Training Institute (NFTI) crashed in the Wainganga river near Deori village in Tiroda tehsil of Gondia district on Wednesday morning, killing two persons on board.

The two were identified as trainer Ranjan Gupta, around 45 years of age, and trainee Himani Kalyan, around 23. While Gupta belongs to Guwahati but had been staying at Gondia along with his wife, Himani belonged to New Delhi. Her parents arrived at Gondia later in the evening.

Preliminary reports have it that the plane dropped altitude and then suddenly crashed into a cable-car ropeway connecting Deori to Dhimartola in Madhya Pradesh which starts across Vainganga river.

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“The mishap occurred around 9.45 am,” said S Raja Reddy, Director of Airport Authority of India (AAI) at Gondia’s Birsi airport where NFTI is located.

“The twin-engine plane DA42 had taken off around 9.25 am from Birsi and crashed in Wainganga river barely 35 km away from Gondia,” he added. NFTI is a private limited company and runs the training institute in a joint venture with the AAI.

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Asked about probable reasons for crash, Reddy said, “we are not sure about it yet. There was no report to the ATC from the crew.” He added: “The twin-engine plane apparently dropped altitude and then crashed into a cable-car ropeway that connect the two sides of the Wainaganga river.”

Reddy said, “Gupta was a very skilled pilot and has even flown military aircraft like MiG when he was working with Indian Air Force.” Asked why he couldn’t send distress call to the ATC, Reddy said, “that’s a matter of investigation. A team of Director General of Civil Aviation experts will come from Delhi tomorrow to investigate.”

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The plane is a four-seater owned by NFTI to train its students for the 18-month course. For how long the two victims have been associated with NFTI couldn’t also be immediately known.

According to Reddy, “NFTI is currently number one flying institute in the country and has over 150 students and more than 10 instructors.”

First uploaded on: 26-04-2017 at 20:16 IST
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