Maha Dy CM Ajit Pawar killed in plane crash

Baramati: Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar and four others on board an aircraft were killed after it crashed near the Baramati airport in Maharashtra's Pune district on Wednesday.

The 66-year-old leader's death 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. His uncle and NCP founder Sharad Pawar said the plane crash was an accident which shouldn't be politicised.

Ajit Pawar is survived by wife Sunetra, a member of the Rajya Sabha and two sons, Parth and Jay. His Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) had contested the recent municipal corporation elections in Pune and Pimpri Chinchwad in alliance with his uncle Sharad Pawar's NCP (SP).

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.

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.

President Droupadi Murmu, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah and several other leaders expressed grief over Ajit Pawar's demise.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, who reached Baramati and met Ajit Pawar's family members, described the NCP leader's tragic death as unbelievable, and said he had lost a good friend. 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.

Ajit Pawar's last rites will be held with full state honours on Thursday in Baramati. Modi and Shah are expected to attend the funeral, which will be held at Vidya Pratishthan ground at 11 am, the Nationalist Congress Party said. 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.

In aviation parlance, a go-around is a standard procedure where a pilot discontinues a landing attempt and initiates a climb to fly another approach. It is used when a landing cannot be completed safely due to factors like poor weather, an unstable approach, or traffic on the runway. It is a proactive safety measure rather than an emergency.

A readback is a crucial safety procedure where a pilot repeats back the essential parts of a message or instruction received from Air Traffic Control (ATC). It acts as a "closed-loop" communication system, ensuring that the controller's instructions were heard and understood correctly by the flight crew.

The 16-year-old chartered aircraft, operated by VSR Ventures Pvt Ltd, crashed while attempting a second landing approach at Baramati airport which is an uncontrolled airfield.

V K 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. VSR Ventures' fleet includes seven Learjet 45 aircraft (including the one involved in the crash), five Embraer 135BJ aircraft, four King Air B200 aircraft and one Pilatus PC-12 aircraft, the statement said. Terrifying eyewitness accounts have emerged from the site of the aircraft crash as residents near the Baramati 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.

The Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) is currently analysing why the crew struggled to maintain visual contact with the runway despite the reported 3,000-metre visibility.

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 aircraft was trying to land amid poor visibility, Civil Aviation Minister K Rammohan Naidu told reporters in Pune.