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Training plane skids while landing at Baramati, where Ajit Pawar died in crash
Pune SP Sandip Singh Gill said the training aircraft skidded while landing; no serious injuries have been reported.
A training aircraft operated by a private company crash-landed near the Baramati airstrip in Maharashtra's Pune district on Sunday, police said. No casualties were reported, they said.
The mishap occurred around 12:30 pm, it is learnt. This comes seven months after the then Maharashtra deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar of the NCP was killed in a crash during a landing attempt at the Baramati airstrip.
“We are investigating whether the aircraft developed a technical snag or if there were any other problems. It is too early to comment on anything,” a senior police official said on the training aircraft mishap, as per news agency PTI.
Pune SP Sandip Singh Gill gave some more details, saying the plane skidded while landing. No serious injuries have been reported to the two occupants of the Cessna 172 plane (VT SEX) that belonged to a company called Carver Aviation, HT learnt.
At the same airstrip, in January, Ajit Pawar and four others were killed as their Learjet 45 aircraft crashed in what was the second attempt at landing. The victims included, besides the NCP leader, his security officer and an attendant, plus two crew members (pilot-in-command Sumit Kapur and first officer Shambhavi Pathak). The Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) is expected to submit its final report by January next year. That private charter plane belonged to another company, VSR Ventures.
A trainer aircraft of another private company had crashed near the Baramati airstrip on May 13 too. A trainee pilot, the sole occupant of the aircraft, escaped safely following the incident, which occurred near Gojubavi village adjacent to the Baramati airstrip area at 8:50 am, officials said. That aircraft belonged to the Redbird Flight Training Academy, which operates near the Baramati airstrip. The company said it has launched an investigation into the incident.
SP Gill had told PTI, “As per preliminary information received from eyewitnesses, the aircraft was flying at a comparatively low altitude when it developed a technical malfunction. During the crash landing, one side of the aircraft reportedly hit a light pole before it struck the ground.”
