A major mishap was averted after a training aircraft flying from Begumpet airport crashed into a field in Mokila village near Hyderabad’s Shankarpally on Wednesday. While the pilot escaped with minor injuries, the left wing of the aircraft suffered heavy damage and came apart, according to the police.

Police have not ascertained how the accident took place and haven’t registered a case yet.

According to the Shankarpally police, the pilot, 30-year-old Bharat Bhushan, a resident of Delhi, is pursuing aviation training at the Rajiv Gandhi Aviation Academy at Begumpet. He landed the out-of-control flight at Mokila at around 11 am. In the incident, the pilot suffered injury to his left eye.

Speaking to TNM, Shankarapally CI, N Lingaiah, said, “We are not sure what happened to the flight. We suspect that the aircraft developed some technical snag. A major accident was averted as the flight landed in a field when no one was around. Only the pilot suffered minor injuries.”

The Inspector further added, “We are checking with the aviation academy. We haven’t registered a case yet,” he said.

In a similar incident last year in October, an aircraft’s door fell off in a residential area in Lalaguda near Secunderabad and then crashed into a building. Fortunately, there were no casualties and no one suffered injuries. The plane was operated by the Telangana State Aviation Academy. Following this, the Director General of Civil Aviation launched an investigation into the incident. The results of this inquiry have not been made known yet.

In September 2017, an Indian Air Force training aircraft had crashed near Hyderabad and the entire aircraft was engulfed in fire. The pilot had, however, safely ejected before the flight crashed at a secluded place 2 km from Hakimpet.