IGNORED WARNINGS?

The crash of the Learjet carrying ‘Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar near Baramati is not merely a tragic accident; it is a moment that forces uncomfortable questions about aviation safety, regulatory judgment, and the risks normalised in India’s fast-growing nonscheduled aviation sector.

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The final minutes of the flight—poor visibility, an aborted landing, a clearance to land without a read-back, and flames visible seconds later—read like a checklist of vulnerabilities converging at once. While investigations by the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau must be allowed to run their course, the facts already in the public domain underline a deeper concern: that India's aviation safety framework still struggles at the margins, where smaller airfields, private operators, and high-pressure decision-making intersect.

At the centre of the episode lies Baramati’s status as an uncontrolled airfield, a category that exists legally but uneasily in an era of sophisticated jets, tight schedules, and political VIP movements. Uncontrolled does not mean unregulated, yet it often translates into limited infrastructure, absence of instrument landing systems, and reliance on visual meteorological conditions even when visibility deteriorates. Globally, aviation safety has evolved by reducing the scope for discretion in poor weather, not expanding it. The idea that a modern business jet could be attempting a landing in marginal visibility at an airfield without precision approach aids reflects a structural mismatch between aircraft capability and airport readiness. When such mismatches are compounded by time pressure and human judgment, risk multiplies silently.