Learjet 45, Ajit Pawar's plane which crashed today, had faced similar landing incident in Mumbai in 2023

The Learjet 45 aircraft carrying Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar which crashed today, January 28, was involved in another similar accident at Mumbai airport during heavy rain. The incident had happened in September 2023 while the plane, Learjet 45XR (VT-DBL), was attempting landing at the airport.

During the incident, the aircraft, carrying six people, veered off Runway 27 and broke apart on impact. All six occupants survived, with serious injurie, while the pilots sustained grievous injuries.

The Ministry of Civil Aviation said in a statement that the incident is under investigation of the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB). “On 14.09.2023, one of the company aircraft, Learjet 45 aircraft with registration VT-DBL was involved in an accident during landing at Mumbai Airport. The accident is under investigation by AAIB,” it said.

The AAIB probe had then mentioned deteriorating weather, reduced visibility, and “runway drift, autopilot disengagement, stick shaker activation and stall warnings”.

Meanwhile, the ministry, detailing the sequence of event, has mentioned that the Learjet 45 was cleared for landing in Baramati on Wednesday morning after a go-around forced by poor visibility, but having finally received the clearance it did not give any 'read-back' or confirmation to the ATC.

Moments later burst into flames on the edge of the runway.

Baramati has an 'uncontrolled airfield' (which generally means it lacks a proper instrument landing system to guide aircraft during low-visibility operations) and traffic information is provided by the instructors/pilots from the Flying training Organisations at Baramati.

The pilots inquired about the winds and visibility, and were informed that the winds were calm and visibility was approximately 3,000 metres.

"Next the aircraft reported on the final approach of Runway 11 and the runway was not in sight to them. They initiated a go-around in the first approach. After Go Around, the aircraft was asked about its position and crew reported on final approach of runway 11. They were asked to report runway in sight. They replied “runway is currently not in sight, will call when runway is in sight". After a few seconds they reported that the runway is in sight," the civil ministry said.

The ministry said, “The aircraft was cleared to land on runway 11 at 0843IST, however, they did not give a readback of the landing clearance. Next, the ATC saw the flames around the threshold of runway 11 at 0844 IST. The emergency services then rushed to the crash site.”