Alchemist Aviation Training Approval Suspended By DGCA Amid Trainee Death

Aviation watchdog Directorate General of Civil Aviation has suspended the approval for Alchemist Aviation following an audit done in the wake of a fatal trainee aircraft accident that found the flying training organisation being non-compliant with regulations.

The move comes less than two weeks after the organisation's trainee aircraft was involved in the fatal accident that killed the two people on board -- instructor and trainee pilot.

Following the accident on August 20, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) conducted a special safety audit of Alchemist Aviation on August 23 and 24.

"During the audit, several serious deficiencies and non-compliances of regulatory provisions were found," DGCA said in a release on Thursday.

Alchemist Aviation is into local flying at Jamshedpur Sonari airport in Jharkhand. The regulator said it has suspended the approval granted to Alchemist Aviation to operate as a Flying Training Organisation.

"The FTO will have to mandatorily undergo a de novo rectification process to ensure obligatory compliances," it added.