No readback of landing clearance

New Delhi: The airport in Maharashtra's Baramati – near which the Learjet 45 private jet carrying Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar crashed, killing all five on board – is an 'uncontrolled' airfield with flight traffic information handled by pilots from local flying schools, the government said on Wednesday.

A statement from the Civil Aviation Ministry outlined the sequence of events leading to the crash, including the potentially worrying point that the pilot 'did not give readback of landing clearance', ie, there was no message, as is protocol worldwide, from the plane repeating landing authorisation.

At 8.18 am the plane, owned by VSR Ventures Pvt Ltd, a Delhi-based non-scheduled air transport operator, and registered as VT-SSK, established contact with the Baramati airport. The plane had left Mumbai minutes earlier, at 8.10 am.

The Mumbai-Baramati distance is 256 km and the flying time less than 45 minutes. The plane's next call was 30 nautical miles, or 55.6 km, from Baramati airport. At this time, the plane was handed over to the local air traffic controller by Pune and Captain Shambhavi Pathak was advised of weather conditions and advised to land at her discretion.

Pathak, the government statement said, asked about winds and visibility – standard questions pilots world over pose to ground staff or ATCs before landing.

She was told visibility was around 3000 metres, or three kilometres, which aviation experts said is considered 'fairly standard and enough to attempt a landing'. The aircraft then reported its final approach to Runway 11.

Immediately afterwards, the pilot indicated the landing strip was 'not in sight' and was told to initiate a go-around, which is SOP if an initial landing is aborted at any time till the plane comes to a full stop.

After the go-around the plane was asked, again, about its position and the pilot reported final approach. Confirmation the runway was now visible was asked and given. And the plane was then cleared to land; this was at 8.34 am. However, and this is the contentious point, there was no readback of landing clearance.

Plane goes silent

At 8.43 am the plane reportedly 'went silent', ie, it stopped sending ADS-B, or Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast, signals that are continuously transmitted by aircraft to broadcast real-time position, altitude, speed, and identification to ground stations and other equipped aircraft.

The signals stopped around 20 km from Baramati airport, at which point the plane may have been a little over a kilometre above the ground and flying at 237 kilometres per hour.

The clock then struck 8.46:02 when a fireball and a massive plume of smoke was caught on a CCTV feed from a highway, minutes from the airport in Maharashtra's Baramati. Emergency services rushed to the spot and the wreckage was found on the left side of the runway.

Visuals from the spot showed fire and smoke and the mangled remains of the plane, as emergency services personnel and horrified locals gathered, each trying to help.

The Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau, or AAIB, has now taken over the probe.