Sagar: A trainee pilot escaped unhurt after a Cessna aircraft skidded off the runway while taking off from the Dhana airstrip in Madhya Pradesh’s Sagar district on Saturday.
Chimes Aviation's local administrator, Rahul Sharma, said the 22-year-old trainee pilot was safe, PTI reported.
The untoward incident took place at around 3 p.m. The aircraft belonged a private institution named the Chimes Aviation Academy.
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According to eyewitnesses, the aircraft skidded off the runway and reached a patch of land full of shrubs.
Union Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia said an investigation team has been rushed to the site.
“Just got the news of a crash of a Cessna aircraft (solo flight) that belonged to the Chimes Aviation Academy in Sagar, MP. Fortunately, the trainee is safe. We are rushing an investigation team to the site,” he tweeted.
Earlier on Friday, a pilot died and his trainee student was injured in an accident in Maharashtra's Jalgaon district. The aircraft belonged to the Academy of Aviation Shirpur in Dhule district.
The Madhya Pradesh government had earlier in March last year banned Chimes Aviation from using the Dhana airstrip after one of its trainer aircraft crashed in January last year.