‘Runway not in sight’: The 26 minutes before the plane crash that killed Ajit Pawar, four others

The challenges at Baramati airport 

The Baramati airport is a regional airstrip used primarily for pilot training and private plane operations. It does not have navigational aids to help pilots operate during low visibility.

So, pilots have to rely greatly on sight — to not only land, but to also avoid other aircraft. They use radio communication to operate at such airports.

This is a key detail because the flight operator, VSR, has cited possible visibility issues in landing.

According to the Civil Aviation Ministry, Baramati is also an uncontrolled airfield, which means that it also doesn’t have an air traffic control (ATC) tower. Despite this, such airports always have at least one senior official managing the air traffic. At the Baramati airport, air traffic information is provided by the instructors or pilots from the flying schools there.

The sequence of events

The statement released by the Civil Aviation Ministry details the sequence of events between 8.18 am, when the Bombardier aircraft “first came in contact with Baramati”, and 8.44 am, when the flames from the crashed plane were spotted — a 26-minute period that may hold clues about why the crash happened.

This information is based on the statement of the person managing the air traffic for Baramati at the time of the crash.

After coming in contact with Baramati airport, the aircraft’s next call “was at 30 nautical miles inbound to Baramati and they were released by Pune approach. They were advised to descend in Visual Meteorological conditions at pilot’s discretion,” the ministry said.

According to the account, the pilots enquired about the wind and visibility conditions. The operator informed them that the winds were calm and visibility was around 3,000 metres.

Following this, the pilots approached the airport, but decided against landing as they did not have the runway in sight.

According to sources, initial information from the crash site had indicated that low visibility conditions in the area might have played a major role in the accident, a factor cited by VSR as well.

They executed a go-around in order to try and land again. This is consistent with the flight’s path available on flight tracking service Flightradar24. It took a loop and approached the Baramati airport again.

Flightradar24 shows how the pilots took a loop and approached the Baramati airport again.

The aircraft’s captain was highly experienced with more than 15,000 flying hours under his belt. The co-pilot had more than 1,500 hours.

After the go-around, the aircraft was asked about its position. The crew reported a “final approach of runway 11”.

The operator asked them to report if they could see the runway. The reply: “Runway is currently not in sight, will call when runway is in sight.”

After a few seconds, the crew reported that the runway was in sight, the ministry said.

 

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The operator then cleared the plane to land at 8:43 am. There was no response.

“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.

An AAIB team from Delhi has departed for the accident site, and AAIB Director General GVG Yugandhar, who was in Hyderabad, is also on his way to Baramati.

The nine-seater Learjet 45 is a mid-size business jet aircraft manufactured by Canada’s Bombardier Aerospace, with around 640 such planes built during its manufacturing run between 1995 and 2012. According to the DGCA database, VSR had a fleet of 18 aircraft, including the one that crashed on Wednesday.