New Delhi: In an incident that raises further questions on India's already downgraded aviation safety standards, an unused-for-long small Cessna trainer aircraft reportedly ran out of fuel on a hopping flight from Kolkata to Aligarh on Thursday. The plane, a Cessna 152, "force landed" about 10 to 15 km before its schedule stop at Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Udan Academy (IGRUA), Fursatganj, in UP.
Luckily it came down in an unpopulated area and the two pilots flying this plane were not hurt badly while the Cessna was damaged substantially. Ironically, this plane had been rented out by a now-closed flying training academy in Aligarh to a Delhi-based firm about two years back that wanted to open a school in Kolkata. That plan did not work out and now the two Cessnas were on their way back to Aligarh as the management of the school there was trying to reopen shop with these planes!
"The aircraft had flown from Aligarh to Kolkata via IGRUA and Ranchi. They were taking the same route back on Thursday. One plane stopped at IGRUA safely for refuelling and flew to its destination. The other ran out of fuel and forcelanded 10-15 km before the Fursatganj airstrip," said a source .
21/03/14 Saurabh Sinha/Times of India
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Luckily it came down in an unpopulated area and the two pilots flying this plane were not hurt badly while the Cessna was damaged substantially. Ironically, this plane had been rented out by a now-closed flying training academy in Aligarh to a Delhi-based firm about two years back that wanted to open a school in Kolkata. That plan did not work out and now the two Cessnas were on their way back to Aligarh as the management of the school there was trying to reopen shop with these planes!
"The aircraft had flown from Aligarh to Kolkata via IGRUA and Ranchi. They were taking the same route back on Thursday. One plane stopped at IGRUA safely for refuelling and flew to its destination. The other ran out of fuel and forcelanded 10-15 km before the Fursatganj airstrip," said a source .
21/03/14 Saurabh Sinha/Times of India
