India’s civil aviation directorate has disclosed that a Learjet 45 which crashed on approach to the uncontrolled Baramati airfield had already conducted a go-around owing to a lack of visual runway contact.
The aircraft had been carrying two crew members and three passengers, one of whom was Ajit Pawar, the deputy chief minister of Maharashtra – India’s third-largest state, which includes the city of Mumbai.
None of the five occupants survived the 28 January accident.
The aircraft – a 2010 airframe, registered VT-SSK – had been conducting a service from Mumbai to Baramati, which lies about 200km to the southeast.
India’s DGCA identifies VSR Ventures, based in Delhi, as the operator of the jet.
It states that Baramati is an uncontrolled airfield and air traffic information is provided by a flight-training organisation at the facility.
About 30nm outside Baramati, says the regulator, the flight was advised to descend in visual meteorological conditions at the pilot’s discretion.
The crew was informed that visibility was around 3,000m.
But as the aircraft conducted its approach to runway 11, the crew reported that the runway was not in sight, and executed a go-around.
When the crew subsequently transmitted that they were again on final approach, they stated that they would report once the runway was in sight.
After declaring that they had made visual contact with the runway, the crew was given landing clearance. “However, they did not give a readback of the landing clearance,” says the DGCA.
It says emergency services responded to the sighting of flames and wreckage of the aircraft was located on the left side of runway 11, abeam the threshold.
The captain, according to the regulator, had accumulated 15,000h while the first officer had about 1,500h.
India’s aircraft accident investigation bureau has taken over the inquiry into the crash.
VSR’s fleet includes six other Learjet 45s, plus five Embraer ERJ-135s, and five smaller turboprop aircraft.
