Solapur, Nov 12 A trainer aircraft skidded off the runway at Solapur on Thursday after its nose wheel tyre burst during landing, police said, adding the pilot was unhurt in the incident.
The Tecnam P-Mentor aircraft operated by Redbird Flight Training Academy experienced a hard landing and skidded off the runway around 2.30 pm, police said.
The woman trainee pilot Jyoti Tanwar, was flying solo on the Kalburgi-Baramati-Solapur-Kalburgi cross-country flight and escaped unhurt, the official said. She has been taken to a local hospital for medical check-up, police said.
The damaged aircraft has been cordoned off. Earlier, police said the accident happened during take-off, but later clarified that it was during the landing.
The damaged aircraft is a two-seat, low-wing single-engine light aircraft built by Tecnam in Italy and is engineered for ab-initio through instrument flight training, a step-by-step career pathway that takes students with zero prior flight experience and guides them all the way through obtaining their Private Pilot License and an Instrument Rating.
The aircraft came to a stop in a nose-down, angular position off the paved runway surface. Visuals from the spot showed airport and police personnel near the aircraft.
Fire services, an ambulance and police personnel reached the airport soon after the accident.
In December last year, Redbird Flight Training Academy’s Tecnam P-Mentor trainer aircraft had crashed near Suktara airfield in Madhya Pradesh.
That aircraft had suffered a sudden loss of engine power on final approach during a routine circuit and landing check, forcing the instructor to attempt a forced landing.
The instructor had sustained minor injuries, while the trainee pilot had suffered serious injuries.
(PTI News)
