TRINOMALEE: The trainee pilot who flew a solo flight which crashed on the paddy fields has been confirmed dead on Wednesday.
A Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) training aircraft PT-6 which took off from China Bay, Trincomalee crash-landed in Kantale Tuesday.
A trainee pilot on a solo flight which had taken off from China Bay at 1.05 pm yesterday had lost communications with the control tower at around 1.15 pm and had crash-landed in Kantale. Officer Cadet K.R.S.V.B. Amarakoon succumbed to injuries in the crash.
Air Force Spokesman Group Captain Dushantha Wijesinghe told the Daily News that the aircraft had crash-landed near the Janaranjana tank in Kantale.
The Air Force had dispatched a Bell 212 helicopter to locate the aircraft and the crashed aircraft was found 14 nautical miles off the China Bay Air Base.
He added that during training solo flights was part of their training procedure followed by the flying and training wing of the Air Force base in China Bay.
The Air Force Spokesman said investigations are underway to determine the cause of the crash.
