AAIB flags low visibility in Ajit Pawar plane crash preliminary report: 'Tower manned by ground instructor'

Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB)'s preliminary report on the Baramati plane crash in which former Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar was killed, has confirmed that there were visibility issues during landing. The report released on Saturday, also revealed that on the day of the accident, the control tower was manned by a ground instructor from one of the Flight Training Organisations (FTO), which hold flying lessons in the area.

The report also noted that the last runway recarpeting was carried out in March 2016 and thereafter no runway recarpeting was done which resulted into fading of all the runway markings and presence of loose gravels on the runway surface.

“On the day of accident, the tower was manned by a ground instructor of one of the FTO who was communicating with the aircraft to assist the landing. The crew of VT-SSK asked for visibility while approaching Baramati for which the tower replied as 3000 meters by looking at the visibility markers. Further, while giving the landing clearance, the tower informed winds as calm. Hence, the visibility reported at Baramati at the time of landing of aircraft was well below the minima required for VFR flight which is 5000 meters (5 Km), the AAIB report stated.

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