Ajit Pawar's death: Seconds before ill-fated plane crashed, pilots were heard saying ‘oh s**t’
A plane carrying Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar crash-landed in Baramati on Wednesday and burst into flames within seconds, killing all five persons, including two aides and the two pilots, on board. Investigations are underway and fresh details have emerged.
AS investigations continue into the tragic plane crash in Baramati on Wednesday that killed Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar and four others, fresh details have started emerging regarding the sequence of events that led to the crash.
With investigators continuing to probe what led to the crash of the Learjet 45 operated by VSR Aviation, the last communication from the crew of the ill-fated flight has emerged.
“The last words heard from the crew were 'oh s**t',” a senior official from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) was quoted as saying by Hindustan Times.
Events leading up to the crash
According to flight-tracking service FlightRadar24, the plane carrying the Maharashtra Dy CM took off from Mumbai at 8.10 AM on Wednesday and made its first contact with the Baramati airport at 8.18 AM.
Things appeared normal when the pilots first made contact with ATC around 30 nautical miles from Baramati, but then things went wrong.
The Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA), in a release late on Wednesday, said that the pilots initially failed to spot the runway at Baramati airport and made a second landing attempt.
During the second attempt, the crew confirmed to ground control that the runway was in sight and was cleared for touchdown, but the plane went up in flames seconds later, killing everyone on board.
The ministry said that the two pilots, Captain Sumit Kapoor and Captain Shambhavi Pathak, did not respond to air traffic control's clearance for landing.
“The aircraft was cleared to land on runway 11 at 0843 IST. However, they did not give a readback of the landing clearance,” the MoCA release said.
The Learjet 45 is believed to have crashed moments later: “Next, the ATC saw the flames around the threshold of runway 11 at 0844 IST. The emergency services then rushed to the crash site,” the ministry said.
It is believed that the plane crashed into the ground just short of runway 11, to its left, with MoCA saying, “The wreckage of the aircraft is located on the left side of the runway abeam threshold R/W 11.”
The ministry's release also raised questions about conditions at the Baramati airport, which is categorised as “uncontrolled”, meaning it has only a basic runway and no ATC tower or frequency.
HT reported that ground control at Baramati is managed by pilot cadets from two private aviation academies in the town, namely Redbird Aviation and Carver Aviation.
