New Delhi, February 8 A Cessna 172 trainer aircraft, belonging to the Redbird Flight Training Academy and over 50 years old, made an emergency landing in Karnataka on Sunday due to insufficient fuel, and both pilots are safe, the Ministry of Civil Aviation said.
The aircraft, VT-EUC, which was flying from Kalaburagi to Belagavi, crashed landed in an open field near Vijayapura, and the site is approximately 50 to 70 kilometers from the Belagavi airport.
The flight instructor and a trainee pilot were on board the aircraft, which broke into three pieces after the crash landing, sources said.
In a statement on Sunday evening, the Ministry said that the emergency landing occurred "due to suspected fuel starvation experienced by the aircraft," and that the plane was manufactured in 1975.
The aircraft's registration certificate from Redbird was issued on May 23, 2023, and the airworthiness certificate was issued on September 20, 2023.
According to the Ministry, the Airworthiness Review Certificate (ARC) was issued on August 1, 2025, and is valid until August 3, 2026.
The ARC is issued after inspecting the particular aircraft to ensure that it is fit to fly.
The Pilot in Command (PIC) had 734 hours of flying experience.
Redbird Flight Training Academy has 48 planes in its fleet, and its Flying Training Organisation (FTO) approval is valid until July 22, 2030.
The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) approved the academy as an FTO on July 23, 2020, as per the statement.
The Ministry said that "further investigation will be carried out by DGCA/AAIB (Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau)."
Meanwhile, the pilots who were injured in the accident are Captain Kunal Malhotra, who is an Assistant Flight Instructor (AFI) at Redbird Aviation, and trainee pilot Goutham Sankar P R.
A senior official at the Redbird Flight Training Academy told PTI that after the crash, the pilots underwent medical checkups and both are safe.
Prima facie, it appears that the Pilot in Command and the Trainee Pilot forgot to take sufficient fuel for the flight, which resulted in the emergency landing of the aircraft, the official said.
There was no official statement from the academy.