The plane that Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar died in a crash this morning, had crashed in 2023 as well. In September 2023, the private plane skid off the runway and crashed while trying to land amid heavy rain at Mumbai airport.
Ajit Pawar and four other people, including a pilot and a crew member, were killed after an aircraft carrying them crashed in Pune district on Wednesday morning, around 9 am. The aircraft, a Learjet 45, was owned and operated by VSR Ventures. The plane reportedly lost control and crashed while landing at an airport in Baramati. The aircraft caught fire after the crash. The visuals from the ground show mangled remains.
September 2023 Crash
On Spetmber 14, 2023, a Learjet 45XR, owned and operated by VSR Ventures, crashed while landing at Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport amid heavy rain and poor visibility.
The aircraft was operating a non-scheduled passenger flight, under the command of a Pilot in Command, an ATPL holder and a Co-pilot (a CPL holder), from Visakhapatnam to Mumbai. There were six passengers on board.
Accoding to a report by the Ministry of Civil Aviation, the aircraft “took off normally from Visakhapatnam and the flight en route was uneventful.”
“The aircraft established contact with Mumbai tower and was instructed to prepare for landing. The aircraft was cleared to land on Runway 27 and was given landing clearance at 113109 UTC. At the time of landing, Mumbai Airport was experiencing heavy rains and reduced visibility. The winds reported to the crew at the time of landing clearance was WIND 140 DEGREES 7 KTS RWY27,” the report added.
About VSR Ventures
VSR Ventures Pvt Ltd, the registered legal name of the company VSR aviation is a New Delhi-based non-scheduled air transport operator specialising in private jet charters, medical evacuations, and aviation consultancy. The VT-SSK Learjet 45XR that crashed was created in the 1990s as a challenger to Cessna Citation Excel in the “super-light” business category.