A team of three officials from the DGCA had departed for the site for necessary regulatory oversight and coordination, the civil aviation regulator said in a statement.

Updated on: Aug 27, 2026, 17:13:21 IST

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The Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) will probe the crash of a trainee aircraft near Kanpur Civil Airport in Uttar Pradesh on Thursday that killed both the instructor and trainee pilot on board, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) said.

A team of three officials from the DGCA had departed for the site for necessary regulatory oversight and coordination, the civil aviation regulator said in a statement. “The AAIB has been informed and will undertake a detailed investigation into the accident in accordance with the applicable rules,” the statement added.

As per the preliminary information shared by the regulator, a Tecnam P2006T twin-engine aircraft, bearing registration VT-NBV and operated by Garg Aviation Ltd., Kanpur, met with an accident on Thursday afternoon when it was around 5 NM from Kanpur Civil Airport, near Ganga Barrage.

The deceased were identified as instructor Sachin Bhatia, a resident of Gujarat, and trainee pilot Abhishek Pujari from Karnataka, police commissioner Raghubir Lal said, adding that the aircraft took off from the training centre at around 11.30am and crashed 20 minutes later, while on its way back.

“The aircraft was on a training flight in the Local Flying Area of Kanpur Civil Airport. There were two persons on board, a trainee pilot and an instructor. Both sustained fatal injuries in the accident,” a statement from the DGCA read.

“The circumstances and cause of the accident will be determined through the investigation,” the DGCA said.

Garg Aviation was involved in an incident in June, when the DGCA not only suspended its instructor but also grounded the aircraft after a trainee pilot was injured at Kanpur during a night instructional flight.

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