Hyderabad: A 23-year-old youth from Kurnool in Andhra Pradesh, who was undergoing training for commercial pilot in the US, was killed along with his instructor, when his plane crashed in the Texas state, according to his family members here.
Karthik, undergoing pilot training course at a private aviation school, died when the plane in which he was training crashed during landing at Hooks Airport near Spring in the state. His instructor was also killed in the mishap on Sunday (USA timing), they said on Tuesday.
Karthik`s father BC Nagaraju, a BSNL general manager, said his plane developed some technical snag soon after taking off and the trainee pilot and his instructor informed the matter to Air Control authorities for clearance to land.
"They were permitted to land but they could not land safely and the plane crashed due to mechanical fault of engine," Nagaraju told a news agency here.
Karthik was undergoing a one-year course for Commercial Pilot License (CPL) in the US.
He had gone to the US on September 28 after completing his intermediate studies in the city and after undergoing training at the city-based Andhra Pradesh Aviation Academy in 2007, his father said.
"Karthik`s friends informed me about the incident yesterday morning (Monday) at around 10.30 AM...We are in shock..It was totally unexpected and very unfortunate," Nagaraju said.
There are some formalities to be completed to enable the US authorities to hand over Karthik`s body to the bereaved family in India, he said.
Nagaraju said the family members were expecting the mortal remains of Karthik to arrive in Hyderabad from the US by this weekend.
