DGCA grounds four aircraft of VSR Ventures over non-compliance issues after Baramati crash — What you need to know

New Delhi, Feb 24 (PTI) After finding several compliance lapses, aviation regulator DGCA on Tuesday directed the grounding of four aircraft of VSR Ventures, whose plane crashed at Baramati last month, killing Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar and four others.

Following the crash of the Learjet 45 aircraft (VT-SSK) on January 28, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation had ordered a special safety audit of VSR Ventures.

The multi-disciplinary audit team observed several non-compliances of approved procedures in the organisation in the area of airworthiness, air safety, and flight operations, the regulator said in a statement.

"In view of the non-compliances observed and considering the gaps in maintenance procedures, it is decided to initiate the corrective measures by immediately grounding Learjet 40/45 aircraft with registration VT-VRA, VT-VRS, VT-VRV, and VT-TRI till continued airworthiness standards are restored," it said.

Further, DGCA said deficiency reporting forms have been issued to VSR Ventures in the areas concerned to submit root cause analysis on the non-compliances. The submissions would be assessed by the watchdog before the next course of action.

Pawar and four others were killed in the crash of a Learjet 45 plane, owned by VSR Ventures, near Baramati on January 28.

While the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) is expected to come out with its preliminary report into the fatal crash before February 28, concerns have been raised in certain quarters claiming there could have been a conspiracy that led to the crash.

Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar and four others were killed in the fatal crash of the VSR Ventures-owned plane on January 28.

In a statement, the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) said the aircraft was equipped with two independent flight recorders.

Both recorders were exposed to intense heat for a prolonged period during the accident and sustained fire damage, it said.

According to AAIB, the Digital Flight Data Recorder (DFDR), manufactured by L3-Communications, has been successfully downloaded at its Flight Recorder Laboratory.

"The Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR), manufactured by Honeywell, is undergoing detailed technical examination. Assistance has been sought from the Accredited Representative of the State of Manufacture for specialised support in data retrieval," the probe agency said.

In this case, the state of manufacture is the US.

Requesting all stakeholders to avoid speculation, AAIB said it was diligently following all prescribed technical and procedural protocols to ensure a comprehensive, objective and evidence-based investigation.

It also said the investigation was being done strictly in accordance with the Aircraft (Investigation of Accidents and Incidents) Rules, 2017 and the international standards and recommended practices of ICAO (International Civil Aviation Organization) Annex 13.

Last week, Civil Aviation Minister K Rammohan Naidu said the preliminary report on the crash of the Learjet 45 aircraft VT-SSK would be released soon.