Pilot Injured As Trainer Aircraft Crashes In Pune, DGCA Starts Probe

In the latest mishap to hit the Indian civil aviation sector, a single-seater trainer aircraft crashed in Maharashtra's Pune district on Monday and its woman pilot suffered injuries.

The aviation regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has started an investigation to ascertain the cause of the incident, said Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia in a tweet.

He further said, "The trainee aircraft crash in Indapur, Pune District is unfortunate. No fatalities have been reported. Praying for the recovery of injured pilot, Ms Bhavika Rathod."

The incident took place at Kadbanwadi in Indapur tehsil around 11.30 am, a police official said.          

He said that the aircraft, belonging to a private aviation school, had taken off from Baramati airport in Pune.

The pilot named Bhavika Rathod received minor injuries and was admitted to a hospital for treatment, the official said.         

He added the aircraft was damaged. Visuals shared by journalists and news organisations on the internet show damage to the aircraft and pilot at the scene.

The crash comes at a time when DGCA is investigating a string of of aviation mishaps in recent times, several of which happened in quick succession. 

Just last week on July 19, DGCA grounded two Go First flights after these flights faced enging snags. A Go First Mumbai-Leh flight was diverted to Delhi as a fault was observed in engine number 2 and another Srinagar-Delhi flight returned to Srinagar after the aircraft's engine number two showed a fault mid-air.

These string of accidents have prompted Scindia to hold high-level meetings. He held three meetings in 

Besides these two incidents, here are other mishaps:

• Last Sunday, IndiGo's Sharjah-Hyderabad flight was diverted to Karachi as a precaution after pilots observed a defect in one of the engines. In a separate incident on the same day, Air India Express's Calicut-Dubai flight was diverted to Muscat on Saturday night after a burning smell was observed in the cabin mid-air.
• Indigo is under invsetigation for a July 14 incident when Delhi-Vadodara flight was diverted to Jaipur out of precaution as vibrations were observed in the engines.
• A live bird was found in the cockpit of Air India Express' Bahrain-Kochi flight on July 15. The bird was found in the glove compartment on co-pilot's side when the plane was at 37,000 feet altitude. The DGCA is investigating the incident.
• On July 6, the DGCA issued a show-cause notice following at least eight incidents of technical malfunction in SpiceJet's aircraft since June 19. One of the incidents happened on July 5 when Delhi-Dubai flight was diverted to Karachi due to a malfunctioning fuel indicator. Its Kandla-Mumbai flight also did priority landing in Mumbai after cracks developed on its windshield mid-air.
• On July 5, an engine of a Vistara aircraft on way from Bangkok failed after it landed at the Delhi airport. 
• On July 5, the cabin crew of an IndiGo's Raipur-Indore flight observed smoke in the plane after it landed at its destination.
• On July 2, a SpiceJet flight heading to Jabalpur returned to Delhi after the crew members observed smoke in the cabin at around 5,000 feet altitude.
• Fuselage door warnings lit up on two separate SpiceJet planes while taking off on June 24 and June 25, forcing them to abandon their journeys and return.
• On June 19, an engine on SpiceJet's Delhi-bound aircraft carrying 185 passengers caught fire soon after the take-off from Patna airport and the plane made an emergency landing minutes later. The engine malfunctioned because of a bird hit.
• On June 19, a SpiceJet flight for Jabalpur had to return to Delhi due to cabin pressurisation issues.

(With PTI inputs)