The Learjet 45 aircraft carrying Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar remained airborne for around 35 minutes before it crashed near Baramati, according to flight tracking data.
Flight tracking data accessed by The Indian Express from Flightradar24 shows that the aircraft, bearing registration VT-SSK and operated by private charter firm VSR Aviation, took off from Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport at around 8.10 am and disappeared from radar at approximately 8.45 am.
Preliminary information shared with the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) indicated that none of the five persons on board survived the crash.
Sources said that given the seriousness of the accident, the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) is expected to conduct the investigation.
The flight path indicates that the jet was making a loop to align with the runway as it prepared to land at Baramati airport before it vanished from the tracker.
Apart from Pawar, the aircraft was carrying four others; his personal security officer, an attendant and two pilots.
The Learjet 45 is a mid-size business jet manufactured by Canada’s Bombardier Aerospace, with around 640 such aircraft built between 1995 and 2012.
The nine-seater jet that crashed belonged to Delhi-based VSR Aviation, though details such as the age of the aircraft were not immediately available. According to the DGCA database accessed by The Indian Express, VSR Aviation operates a fleet of 18 aircraft and is based out of Delhi’s Vasant Kunj area.
Pawar was the 8th deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra alongside Eknath Shinde under Devendra Fadnavis from December 2024. He was the longest-serving Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra, serving non-consecutively. He served in the position for six terms under various governments, including the cabinets of Prithviraj Chavan, Devendra Fadnavis, Uddhav Thackeray, and Eknath Shinde.
(Inputs from The Indian Express report)
