A catastrophic landing gone wrong at Baramati Airport claimed the life of Maharashtra Deputy CM Ajit Pawar and four companions in a charter Learjet inferno Wednesday. VT-SSK, flying from Mumbai for Pawar’s election campaign stops, slammed past the runway threshold, veered off, and erupted—ending a prominent political career abruptly.
VSR Ventures, the NSOP holder since 2014 with permit to 2028, maintains 17 jets. No red flags in the latest February 2025 DGCA check, but a 2023 Mumbai hard landing of another Learjet-45 (VT-DBL) probe persists.
Victims included highly qualified Captain Sumit Kapoor (15,000+ hours), co-pilot Shambhavi Pathak (1,500 hours), PSO Vidip Jadhav, and aide Pinki Mali—all perished despite impeccable pilot records.
Sequence unfolded at the unlicensed field: Mumbai departure, Pune clearance for visual to Runway 11 in good conditions (calm air, 3km viz). First pass missed runway, prompting go-around. Second confirmed visual, clearance at 8:43—no readback. ATC then witnessed threshold blaze; wreckage lay left of runway.
AAIB has centralized the investigation, experts en route from Delhi to Pune-Baramati. DGCA teams secure evidence, including vital black boxes. Political shockwaves ensue, with calls for stringent charter oversight as the nation reflects on this preventable tragedy’s lessons for air travel safety.