Baramati, Jan 28 (IANS) The Central government issued an exhaustive formal report on Wednesday outlining the harrowing sequence of events that led to a fatal aviation disaster near Baramati Airport. The crash resulted in the tragic demise of Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar and four others, including two crew members.

Apart from Deputy CM Pawar, the people onboard the plane, Learjet 45 aircraft (registration VT-SSK) operated by VSR, included a personal security officer (PSO), an attendant, and two crew members — a Pilot-in-Command (PIC) and a Second-in-Command (SIC).

The deceased have been identified as Vidip Jadhav (male), Pinky Mali (female). Additionally, the crew members were PIC Sumit Kapur and SIC Shambhavi Pathak, according to the passenger list.

According to the comprehensive account provided by the Ministry of Civil Aviation, the aircraft involved was a Learjet 45 with registration VT-SSK, managed by the operator VSR Ventures.

The flight had been granted authorisation to touch down on Runway 11 at exactly 8:43 a.m. after the flight crew had previously decided to abort an initial landing sequence.

However, a chilling silence followed as Air Traffic Control personnel failed to receive any verbal acknowledgement or readback from the cockpit crew after the landing clearance was transmitted.

The situation turned catastrophic just sixty seconds later at 8:44 a.m. when ground controllers witnessed a sudden burst of flames erupting near the threshold of the runway.

Because Baramati functions as an uncontrolled airfield, the coordination of traffic information typically relies on the active communication between instructors and pilots from the various flight training institutions that utilise the facility.

The official chronological record indicates that the Learjet first initiated contact with the Baramati station at 8:18 a.m. on Wednesday morning.

The subsequent communication occurred when the plane was positioned roughly 30 nautical miles inbound to the destination, at which point Pune approach control released the aircraft to local coordination.

The pilots were instructed to begin their descent under Visual Meteorological Conditions, leaving the specific timing to the professional discretion of the crew.

While navigating the final stages of the approach, the Ministry noted that the crew enquired about the winds and visibility, and they were informed that the winds were calm and visibility was around 3000 mts.

Shortly thereafter, the crew reported that they were on their final approach for Runway 11 but indicated they could not yet see the landing strip. This lack of visual contact forced the pilots to initiate a go-around manoeuvre during their first attempt to land the vessel.

In the wake of this go-around, Air Traffic Control requested a position update, and the pilots once again confirmed they were on final approach for Runway 11.

When controllers prompted the crew to confirm their visibility of the tarmac, the pilots initially stated that the runway was not in sight and that they would report once visual contact was established.

When asked to confirm runway visibility, the pilots initially said, “Runway is currently not in sight, will call when runway is in sight”. After a few seconds, they reported that the runway was in sight, according to the Ministry’s statement.

“The aircraft was cleared to land on runway 11 at 08:43 IST; however, they did not give a readback of the landing clearance,” the Ministry said.

By 8:44 a.m., the visual confirmation of fire at the threshold of Runway 11 prompted an immediate deployment of emergency response teams to the impact zone.

Investigators later located the mangled wreckage of the Learjet on the left side of the runway, positioned directly abeam the threshold of Runway 11.

The Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau has officially assumed control of the inquiry into the crash. The Director General of the bureau is currently travelling to the crash site to oversee the collection of evidence, and the government has assured the public that additional findings will be released as the technical probe moves forward.

This incident has also brought scrutiny to the operator, VSR Ventures, which maintains a fleet of 17 aircraft.

The Ministry pointed out a concerning precedent, noting that on September 14, 2023, another Learjet 45 owned by the same company, with registration VT-DBL, suffered a separate accident during a landing attempt at Mumbai Airport.

That previous incident remains under an ongoing investigation by federal authorities.

–IANS

sd/