Ajit Pawar plane crash: Why landing on tabletop runways is challenging | Explained
The Baramati tragedy has reminded us of the vulnerabilities at high-altitude sites in India's aviation sector, places that are not equipped enough to deal with such situations. The Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) will probe the plane crash at Baramati airport.
New Delhi: In an incident that has shocked the nation, Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar died on Wednesday in a plane crash. The accident occurred while the plane was landing at Pune’s Baramati Airport, as Pawar was going there from Mumbai to campaign for the Zilla Parishad elections.
The dangers of tabletop airstrips
Pawar had left for Baramati from Mumbai on Wednesday morning in a special plane. However, the plane crashed due to a sudden technical failure. Maharashtra is currently witnessing Zilla Parishad elections, and Ajit Pawar was scheduled to hold campaign rallies in various places in Baramati.
The incident claimed five lives, including that of Pawar and his security personnel. It happened reportedly due to a botched landing at the elevated airstrip, though it does not have the classic tabletop design normally seen in other dangerous, notorious sites.
According to flight tracking website Flightradar24, Pawar's aircraft crashed while trying a second approach to the Baramati Airport, which has a tabletop runway. The small Baramati airstrip reportedly lacks ILS (Instrument Landing System) facilities, forcing the pilot to try for a manual and visual landing. The aircraft approached the runway by making a large turn. It crashed during the landing near the tabletop runway's edge.
Crash happened during descent
The Learjet 45, operated by VSR Ventures, a Delhi-based private aviation company, lost control during descent on its 1,770-metre runway, located at 604 metres above sea level. CCTV footage has surfaced online showing the moment the chartered plane crashed this morning. The ill-fated aircraft burst into flames shortly after it crash-landed around 8.46 am.
The CCTV video from a highway near the airport in Baramati shows a massive plume of smoke billowing in the air after the plane crashed and turned into a fireball. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) is probing potential weather factors, technical faults, and operational lapses.
Incident brings dangerous runways into focus
The crash has brought into focus Baramati Airport, and the five primary tabletop runways in India: Kozhikode, Mangalore, Lengpui, Shimla, and Pakyong. Tabletop runways on hilltop plateaus with sheer drops at their ends make life extremely difficult for pilots, often creating optical illusions with the strip appearing closer than it is.
DGCA mandates specialised training for such operations. In August 2020, an Air India Express Boeing 737 crashed at Kozhikode's tabletop runway, battered by monsoon rains and poor visibility, killing 21 people. A decade earlier at Mangalore, another such crash took place, killing 158 people.
The Baramati tragedy has reminded us of the vulnerabilities at high-altitude sites in India's aviation sector, places that are not equipped enough to deal with such situations. The Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) will probe the plane crash at Baramati airport.