Moments before a small Beechcraft C 90 crashed at a Mumbai suburb this afternoon, the pilot swerved to avoid hitting any residential building, saving many lives, tweeted former aviation minister Praful Patel.
The plane took off from the Juhu Aerodrome for a test flight, with two pilots and two maintenance engineers. It crashed a little after 1 pm, killing all four on board and a man on the ground.
The crash site was near to buildings under construction, so there were very few people there at the time.
Facing engine trouble, the pilot wanted an emergency landing on the main runway of the Mumbai airport instead of heading to Juhu Aerodrome but crashed just a short distance from the airport.
Praful Patel praised the pilot, saying she had avoided a bigger tragedy at the cost of her own life.
The 12-seater plane was reportedly 20 years old.
The Directorate General of Civil Aviation sent a team to investigate what went wrong.
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