DHENKANAL: A chief pilot trainer and a trainee pilot were killed in Dhenkanal district when a trainer aircraft crashed on Monday morning.
Sources said the Cessna FA-152 VT-ENF trainer aircraft fell off from a height of nearly 100 feet immediately after it took off from Birasala airstrip under Kankadahada police limits and crashed.
Critically injured chief trainer pilot Sanjib Kumar Jha and trainee pilot Anish Fatima were rushed to Kamakshanagar sub-divisional hospital where doctors declared them brought dead.
Sanjib hailed from Bihar while Anish was a native of Tamil Nadu.
The airstrip, developed on a 50 acre land at a quote of Rs 9 crore was opened for pilot training in May last year after the Civil Aviation Ministry declared the Birasala airstrip as a Government Aviation Training Institute (GATI).
Though it was shut for more than two months due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it resumed operations few days back following relaxation of lockdown restrictions. This is said to be the first such crash in the training air base.
"Cessna FA-152 VT-ENF is a GATI-run aircraft. Preliminary investigation revealed it developed snags immediately after taking off from the airstrip. Cause of the snags is being verified. Further investigation is on," said Kamakshyanagar Sub-collector Bishnu Prasad Acharya.
Senior officials of Indian Air Force are arriving here to inquire into the incident. So far 90 pilots, including 36 aspiring pilots have undergone training at the airstrip.