Fatal Crash of a Light Aircraft in Gawdanapalya Lakebed (VT-JOY)

Incident Overview and Flight Details On the day of the accident, the aircraft departed from runway 27 at Bangalore-Hindustan Airport at 1514 local time. The flight was scheduled to proceed to Cochin and carried one pilot and three passengers. ## Emergency Return and Crash Approximately six minutes after takeoff, the pilot reported technical problems and decided to return to the airport for an emergency landing. During the return, the aircraft entered an uncontrolled descent and crashed into the lakebed of Gawdanapalya Lake, located about 9 km southwest of the airport. The aircraft was destroyed, and all four occupants were killed. ## Official Findings The official investigation identified the probable cause as engine power loss during the initial climb after the aircraft had been refueled with Jet fuel instead of Avgas 100LL. Contributing factors included the pilot's low experience on the type and non-compliance with correct refueling procedure and its supervision by IOC personnel and the pilot or operator's representative.