Ajit Pawar, Maharashtra deputy chief minister and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader, died in a tragic plane crash on Wednesday as he was headed to Baramati where the 66-year-old leader was scheduled to address four public meetings ahead of the Zilla Parishad elections. Track updates on Ajit Pawar's death
Pawar's plane was carrying five passengers when it crashed while making a second landing attempt in Baramati. Others who died in the crash have been identified pilots Sumit Kapoor and Shambhavi Pathak, Mumbai PSO HC and Pawar's security staff Vidhit Jadhav along with flight attendant Pinky Mali.
Pawar was flying onboard an civil aircraft that has had a patchy track record. The plane, according to the DGCA, was Learjet 45 model with registration number VT-SSK and crashed at Baramati Airport in Pune at 8:45 am on Wednesday.
Lear Jet 45
{{/usCountry}}Pawar was flying onboard an civil aircraft that has had a patchy track record. The plane, according to the DGCA, was Learjet 45 model with registration number VT-SSK and crashed at Baramati Airport in Pune at 8:45 am on Wednesday.
Lear Jet 45
{{/usCountry}}Made by Bombardier Aerospace, Learjet 45, introduced in 1998, is described as 'a mid-size business jet with two engines. The jet has the capacity to accommodate up to 8 passengers and two crew members and has swivel seats that can recline into work tables, according to blade.com.
Learjet 45 is operated by VSR Ventures, a Delhi-based entity with its office in Mahipalpur area, and also has operations in Mumbai, Hyderabad and Bhopal. The company was founded in 2009, according to LinkedIn.
VSR's top official, VK Singh, was quoted as saying by Aaj Tak that the the aircraft was completely safe, and the crew was fairly experienced. He said said the crash could have been caused by poor visibility.
A similar aircraft operated by the same company was involved in a similar accident almost two years ago, but all onboard had survived the mishap.
On September 14, 2023, a VSR Learjet 45 (VT-DBL) was on a non-scheduled passenger flight from Visakhapatnam to Mumbai with six passengers and two crew members on board.