What happened
On the afternoon of the incident, a flight scheduled to travel from Bangalore-Hindustan Airport to Cochin departed from runway 27 at 15:14 local time. The aircraft, carrying one pilot and three passengers, began its ascent; however, approximately six minutes into the flight, the pilot communicated that technical difficulties had occurred and decided to attempt an emergency return to the airfield.
During this maneuver, the aircraft type entered a state of uncontrolled descent. The impact occurred in the lakebed of Gawdanapalya Lake, situated roughly 9 km southwest of the departure airport. The crash resulted in the destruction of the plane and four fatalities, with no survivors among the occupants.
Findings
Investigations into the accident revealed that the primary reason for the loss of engine power during the initial climb was the use of Jet fuel instead of Avgas 100LL during the refueling process. Several contributing elements were noted in the official report:
- The pilot possessed limited experience operating this specific aircraft model.
- There was a failure to follow established refueling protocols.
- There was an absence of proper oversight by both the pilot and IOC personnel during the fueling operation.