Fadnavis writes to Shah, seeking probe into Ajit Pawar plane crash

Mumbai: Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has sought a “comprehensive, transparent and time-bound” probe into the January 28 Baramati accident that killed former deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar and four others. In a letter to Union Home Minister Amit Shah on March 6, Fadnavis expressed concerns over discrepancies in safety oversight, crew deployment and flight data. He wrote that representatives of NCP (SP) MLA Rohit Pawar highlighted multiple issues that needed to be examined in detail during the ongoing investigation by the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB).

These include the operator’s safety record, including accidents at Mumbai Airport in 2023 and foreign regulatory observations; crew deployment, including last-minute pilot changes and compliance with crew work and rest rules; aircraft maintenance, technical logbooks and airworthiness supervision; discrepancies in flight data, including air traffic control records, radar inputs, transponder loss and cockpit records; operational decision-making during landing, including low-visibility approaches, runway selection, go-arounds and no diversions, and finally regulatory adequacy and compliance with aviation safety norms.