Trainee aircraft crashes after take-off in Kanpur, Karnataka pilot among two killed

Mangalore Today News Network

Kanpur, Aug 27, 2026: A trainee aircraft crashed during a training flight in Uttar Pradesh’s Kanpur on Thursday, killing both pilots on board.

According to police sources, the four-seater, twin-engine aircraft crashed in a field in the Nattha Purwa locality, a few minutes after taking off from an airfield in Kanpur Cantonment at around 11:20 am.

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The deceased were identified as Abhishek Pujari, a trainee pilot from Karnataka, and Sumit Bhatia from Gujarat. Bhatia reportedly had around 3,000 hours of flying experience.

A rescue team that reached the crash site had difficulty extricating the seriously injured pilots from the wreckage. They were rushed to a hospital, where doctors declared them dead on arrival.

Officials of the company that owned the aircraft later reached the site and launched an investigation into the cause of the crash.