Telangana: Female Trainee Pilot Confirmed Dead as Aircraft Crashes in Nalgonda

The victim, Mahima, who hails from Tamil Nadu, was training at a Hyderabad-based training institute.

(Photo: The Quint)

A female trainee pilot has been confirmed dead in a trainer aircraft crash that occurred in Nalgonda district of Telangana on 26 February.

Visuals show that the severely damaged aircraft had crashed into agricultural fields. Eyewitnesses said that the aircraft was flying from Nagarjuna Sagar, when it crashed to the ground and erupted in flames around 11.30 am.

Telangana police rushed to the spot after being alerted by farmers working in the fields at Tungaturthi village of Peddavoora Mandal in Nalgonda district.

The victim was identified as Maheema Gajaraj, 29, of Ayanavaram in Chennai. She was training at a Hyderabad-based training institute which also operates from Nagarjuna Sagar.

The farmers working at the farm lands at Tungaturthy village of Pedavura mandal had first noticed the crash.

Preliminary investigation suggests that the chopper came in contact with high tension electrical wires at the agricultural lands that led to the crash.

The District Superintendent of Police Rema Rajeshwari told media that the trainee pilot took off her Cessna 152 aeroplane at around 10.30 am from the Academy’s operations institute. She was riding the two-seater aircraft alone.

Union Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia offered condolences to the bereaved family of the trainee pilot. "An investigation team has been rushed to the site. Unfortunately, we lost the student pilot. My heartfelt condolences to the bereaved family & loved ones,” the minister tweeted.