An adventure flight on a microlight plane ended in a tragedy that left a leading city based advertisement consultant dead in Kodagu district.
The microlight plane, Ramesh Rao (54) was flying in, crashed while landing at Begur Kolli in Virajpet taluk on Saturday evening. The pilot Rajiv, survived with serious injuries, but Mr. Rao succumbed to injuries around midnight, at a Mysuru hospital where the two victims were being treated.
Mr. Rao was the Managing Director of Scion Advertising based out of Whitefield (Bengaluru) as well as the president of the Aircraft Owners and Pilots’ Association-India, and had taken the ultralight plane ride on Saturday evening.
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The plane was airborne for nearly an hour and then approached a field for landing. However, the pilot lost control of the flight when he attempted to swerve past high tension cables. The plane fell from nearly a height of 100 feet and crashed on a patch of land around 300 meters short of the runway. One of the wings of the ultralight plane was detached from the fuselage due to the impact.
Ravindranath of Brindavan Hospital told The Hindu that Mr. Rao was wheeled in around 5.30 p.m. with factures in both the legs, besides a gaping hole in the ankle. He was in a state of shock given the nature of his injuries but was conscious. A surgery that took nearly five hours was performed. However, around midnight, he gasped for breath and suffered a massive cardiac arrest. Mr. Rao was not only a well-known name in the advertising industry — having represented finance, pharmaceutical and hospitality brands — but also an experienced pilot with over 10 years or 500 flight hours flying experience.
He was the founder of the Bangalore Flying Club and AOPA-India.
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