On adventure trip, Bengaluru businessman dies in microlight plane crash

Kodagu: Prominent brand strategist and businessman Ramesh Rao, a flying enthusiast, has succumbed to injuries he received when the microlight plane he was flying crash-landed in Kodagu district.

The two-seater plane carrying 55-year-old Rao and pilot Subramani on an adventure trip crashed near Virajpet on Saturday and both were shifted to a Mysuru hospital in critical conditions, Superintendent of Police (Kodagu) Vartika Katiyar told a news agency here.

"Both were rescued by people in the village where the plane crash-landed. They had suffered multiple fractures and were bleeding profusely," she added.

Rao succumbed to injuries around midnight last night while the pilot is still in ICU, Katiyar said.

Rao had a miraculous escape in 2013 when his two-seater aircraft made a crash-landing at an agricultural field in Ballari district while he was flying from Kolhapur to Bengaluru on a business trip.

Asked about the cause of the crash, Vartika said the mishap will be investigated by the Director General of Civil Aviation.

Serving as the Managing Director of Scion Advertising Pvt Ltd in Bengaluru, Rao had been delivering brand strategy, design and communication solutions for clients across the world, the company website says.

He was the founder of the Bangalore Flying Club and AOPA-INDIA (Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association-India) and had started flying microlights in 2000. Rao had accumulated over 500 flight hours.