Ajit Pawar plane crash: Learjet 45 had faced similar landing incident at Mumbai airport in 2023

Another Learjet 45 aircraft, similar to the one carrying Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar that crashed today, 28 January, was involved in an accident at Mumbai airport during heavy rain a few years back. The incident happened in September 2023 while the plane, Learjet 45XR (VT-DBL), was attempting to land at the airport.

During the incident, the aircraft, carrying six people, veered off Runway 27 and broke apart on impact. All six occupants survived with serious injuries, while the pilots sustained grievous injuries.

The Ministry of Civil Aviation said in a statement that the incident is under investigation by the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB). “On 14.09.2023, one of the company aircraft, Learjet 45 aircraft with registration VT-DBL was involved in an accident during landing at Mumbai Airport. The accident is under investigation by AAIB,” it said.

The AAIB probe into the Mumbai crash had then mentioned deteriorating weather, reduced visibility, and “runway drift, autopilot disengagement, stick shaker activation and stall warnings”.

Meanwhile, the ministry, detailing the sequence of events, mentioned that the Learjet 45 was cleared for landing at Baramati on Wednesday morning after a go-around forced by poor visibility, but having finally received the clearance, it did not give any 'read-back' or confirmation to ATC.

Moments later, the plane burst into flames on the edge of the runway.

Baramati has an 'uncontrolled airfield' (which generally means it lacks a proper instrument landing system to guide aircraft during low-visibility operations) and traffic information is provided by the instructors/pilots from the Flying Training Organisations at Baramati.

How it happened: Civil aviation ministry details the crash

The aircraft VI-SSK first made contact with Baramati Air Traffic Control (ATC) at 8:18 AM. Its next communication came when it was 30 nautical miles inbound to Baramati, at which point the crew was advised to descend under visual meteorological conditions at their discretion.

The pilots inquired about the winds and visibility, and were informed that the winds were calm and visibility was approximately 3,000 metres.

"Next the aircraft reported on the final approach of runway 11 and the runway was not in sight to them. They initiated a go-around in the first approach. After go-around, the aircraft was asked about its position and crew reported on final approach of runway 11. They were asked to report runway in sight. They replied “runway is currently not in sight, will call when runway is in sight". After a few seconds they reported that the runway is in sight," the civil ministry said.

The ministry said, “The aircraft was cleared to land on runway 11 at 0843IST; however, they did not give a readback of the landing clearance. Next, the ATC saw the flames around the threshold of runway 11 at 0844 IST. The emergency services then rushed to the crash site.”