Four others also dead in tragedy in Baramati
Baramati: Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar and four other persons onboard a chartered aircraft were killed after it crashed barely 200 metres from the edge of a tabletop runway at Baramati airport in Pune district on Wednesday.
The death of the 66-year-old leader, fondly known as Dada (elder brother) in the state, has not only left a vacuum in the BJP-led state coalition government, but also cast a shadow on the future of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), which he headed. The ‘black box’ (comprising the flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder) from the aircraft will be analysed after recovery to determine the cause of the accident, an official said.
The 16-year-old aircraft, operated by VSR Ventures Pvt Ltd, crashed while attempting a second landing approach at the airport.
The airport is an uncontrolled airfield where traffic information is typically provided by instructors and pilots from local flying training organisations.
Ajit Pawar had taken off from Mumbai in the morning to address four rallies in the day in Pune district for the February 5 zilla parishad elections.
The others killed in the tragedy were Captain Sumit Kapoor, who had a flying experience of 15,000 hours, co-pilot Capt Shambhavi Pathak with 1,500 hours of flying, personal security officer (PSO) Vidip Jadhav and flight attendant Pinky Mali. The government released a statement detailing the sequence of events that led to the crash and Pawar’s death.
The aircraft, a Learjet, was cleared for landing in Baramati on Wednesday morning after a go-around due to poor visibility, but having finally received a clearance it did not give any ‘read-back’ to the ATC, and moments later burst into flames on the edge of the runway.
VK Singh, owner of VSR Ventures, said the pilot apparently could not see the runway and carried out a “missed approach”, a standardised procedure in such cases.
Terrifying eyewitness accounts have emerged from the site of the aircraft crash as residents near the airport described a scene of chaos as the plane appeared to lose control before erupting into a series of big explosions.
An eyewitness described watching the aircraft circle the airport, noting it appeared ‘a bit unstable’ before its final approach. According to her, the plane ‘hit the ground hard and exploded’ upon impact, with the blast being heard in homes throughout the area.
Later, the Civil Aviation Ministry, quoting the person manning the Air Traffic Control at Baramati, issued a statement about the sequence of events indicating that the flight encountered visibility issues during its landing attempt despite reports of calm weather.
The statement said that at 8.18 am, the aircraft first established contact with Baramati air traffic control after being released by the Pune approach at 30 nautical miles (around 55 km) inbound to Baramati.
The crew was advised to descend at their discretion under Visual Meteorological conditions and were also informed that winds were calm and visibility was approximately 3,000 metres.
Upon reaching the final approach for the runway, the crew reported that the runway was not in sight and initiated a go-around to reposition for a second attempt on the runway.
After initially stating the runway was still not visible, the crew reported “runway in sight” just seconds later and the ATC cleared the aircraft to land at 8.43 am.
However, the crew did not provide the mandatory readback of this final clearance and at 8.44 am, exactly one minute after the last communication, ATC personnel observed flames erupting near the threshold of the runway.
Emergency services reached the scene immediately following the explosion and the wreckage was located on the left side of the runway.
The Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau is currently analysing why the crew struggled to maintain visual contact with the runway despite the reported 3,000-metre visibility.
Ajit Pawar’s last rites will be held with full state honours on Thursday in Baramati.
Ajit Pawar is survived by wife Sunetra, a member of the Rajya Sabha and two sons, Parth and Jay.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed grief over Ajit Pawar’s death, and said the Maharashtra leader had made big contributions in the development of the state and the country, especially in uplifting rural lives.
Senior leaders cutting across party lines also expressed deep shock and grief over the untimely death of Ajit Pawar.
The Maharashtra government declared a three-day state mourning till January 30, during which the national flag will be flown at half-mast on all buildings.
Don’t bring politics in Ajit Pawar’s death, says Sharad
Pune: In an apparent snub to West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, NCP (SP) president Sharad Pawar on Wednesday said the plane crash involving his nephew Ajit Pawar and four others was an accident which shouldn’t be politicised. Addressing reporters, he said, “A stand was floated from Kolkata that there is some politics involved in this incident. But there is nothing like this. There is no politics in it. It was an accident.”
