E-Paper
Ajit's jet crashes after chilling last call, SC probe sought; Sharad Pawar says 'no politics'
The charter plane - a Bombardier Learjet 45 aircraft - carrying Ajit Pawar crashed while attempting to land near Pune on Wednesday.
While the cause of the plane crash that killed Maharashtra deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar remains unknown and will be ascertained after a thorough investigation, the information out in public so far has led to discussions around what may have led to the tragedy, along with calls for a “Supreme Court-monitored probe” over the same by some.
The charter plane - a Bombardier Learjet 45 aircraft - carrying Ajit Pawar and four others crashed while attempting to land at the Baramati airstrip near Pune on Wednesday. It burst into flames shortly after a chilling final message from the crew. "Oh s***". Track latest in Ajit Pawar plane crash here
It caught fire on impact and was completely gutted, charring all on board to death.
While civil aviation ministry said on Wednesday that the mid-size business jet, carrying Ajit Pawar, was cleared for landing a minute before it went down in flames at 8:44 am, the flight captains did not respond to ATC's clearance message.
According to the civil aviation statement, cited in a separate HT report, the flight captains had flagged "runway not in sight" twice but later relayed that the runway was in sight after a go-around. The flight did not respond to ATC's clearance message and crashed seconds later.
Sharad Pawar says ‘no politics’
Nationalist Congress Party (SP) chief Sharad Pawar on Wednesday urged people not to politicise the death of his nephew and Maharashtra deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar, who died in a plane crash in Baramati along with four others.
In an apparent response to West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s demand for a Supreme Court-monitored investigation into the crash, Pawar said attempts were being made to give the incident a political colour.
Addressing the media after the accident, Sharad Pawar said Ajit Pawar’s death was a major shock for Maharashtra, which had lost a hardworking and efficient leader. “This loss is irreparable. Not all things are in our hands,” an earlier HT report quoted the NCP (SP) chief as saying.
“A stand was floated from Kolkata that there is some politics involved in this incident. But there is nothing like this. There is no politics in it. It was an accident. I request everyone not to bring politics into it,” he said.
Earlier in the day, Banerjee demanded a Supreme Court-monitored investigation into the crash.
Speaking to the media, CM Mamata Banerjee said she was shocked by Ajit Pawar’s death and described it as a serious loss for the nation. She claimed there was “no safety and security” even for political leaders, and referred to social media speculation suggesting Ajit Pawar was considering leaving the Bharatiya Janata Party-led Mahayuti alliance.
Ajit Pawar was the nephew of Sharad Pawar, whose NCP split into two factions after the former broke away along with his supporters in July 2023 and joined hands with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Shiv Sena (now led by Eknath Shinde) bloc.
Final moments of the plane
According to flight-tracking service FlightRadar24, cited in the civil aviation ministry release, the Learjet 45 aircraft took off from the Mumbai airport at 8.10am and headed southeast to Baramati. It made its first contact with the Baramati airport at 8.18am, said the release.
The aircraft then made contact with ATC during the final approach. However, the “runway was not in sight to them”, at which point the pilots appeared to have decided to go around and make a fresh attempt, HT reported separately.
The crew then returned to its initial position to the final approach. But again replied that the runway was “currently not in sight”. “Will call when runway is in sight,” said the ministry release.
After a few seconds, the cockpit relayed that the runway was in sight. At this point, the flight was cleared for landing.
“The aircraft was cleared to land on runway 11 at 0843IST, however, they did not give a readback of the landing clearance,” said the ministry.
“It is a standard practice to readback to the ATC, which acts like a confirmation to the instructions given to the pilot,” the report cited an AAI official as saying.
The aircraft is likely to have smashed into the ground, just short of the runway, to its left and erupted into a ball of flames.
“Next, the ATC saw the flames around the threshold of runway 11 at 0844 IST. The emergency services then rushed to the crash site,” said the release. “The wreckage of the aircraft is located on the left side of the runway abeam threshold R/W 11.”
The plane crashed significantly short of the runway threshold but well within the airstrip perimeter, said a senior Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) official familiar with the details of the early assessments of the crash. “There were no flames prior to touchdown,” said the person.
“The last words heard from the crew were ‘oh s***’...,” the person added.
Most of the aircraft was gutted, reduced to its bones, except the tail fin. Pieces of the aircraft were flung several metres away.
