Vijayapura (Karnataka)/ New Delhi, Feb 8 (PTI) A 50-year-old Cessna 172 trainer aircraft made a crash landing due to inadequate fuel and broke into three pieces near Belagavi airport on Sunday afternoon, and the two pilots, who were on board the plane, are safe, according to sources.
The two-seater aircraft VT-EUC, which was flying from Kalaburagi to Belagavi, crash-landed in an open field in Mangaluru village in Babaleshwar Taluk of Vijayapura district. The site is around 50 to 70 kilometres from the Belagavi airport.
Both the occupants ejected before it crashed, sources said, adding the aircraft broke into three pieces.
In a statement on Sunday evening, the civil aviation ministry said the force landing happened "due to suspected fuel starvation experienced by the aircraft" and that the plane was manufactured in 1975.
The aircraft's certificate of registration with Redbird was issued on May 23, 2023, and the certificate of airworthiness was issued on September 20, 2023.
According to the ministry, the Airworthiness Review Certificate (ARC) was issued on August 1, 2025 and is valid till August 3, 2026.
ARC is issued after inspection of the particular aircraft to ensure that it is fit to fly.
The people who were injured in the accident are Captain Kunal Malhotra, an Assistant Flight Instructor (AFI) at Redbird, and trainee pilot Goutham Sankar P R, the sources said.
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 till 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, "Further investigation will be carried out by DGCA (Directorate General of Civil Aviation)/ AAIB (Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau).
In a statement, a RedBird Flight Training Academy spokesperson said that at around 1430 hours, the aircraft, which was on a cross-country flight, carried out a precautionary landing in an open field near Vijayapura.
"We are relieved to confirm that both the Instructor and the trainee pilot on board are safe. They were immediately rushed to a nearby hospital & were treated for minor injuries," the spokesperson said.
The spokesperson also said it is extending full cooperation to the regulatory review process and that as an immediate step, we have reinforced strict adherence to pre-flight inspection across all bases.
The accident on Sunday happened less than two weeks after a plane crash near Baramati airport killed Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar and four others on January 28.
Meanwhile, Redbird Flight Training Academy had come under regulatory scanner for similar accidents little over two years ago.
Following the two crash landings of its aircraft in a span of one week in October 2023,the aviation watchdog DGCA had temporarily suspended the operations of the academy at all its bases.
And at least three accidents involving the academy's planes are being probed by AAIB.