The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on Tuesday said it auditing 14 charter flight operators as part of a special safety oversight exercise, with field inspections currently underway and the first phase expected to be completed by February 25, as per an order issued by the regulator.
Exercise was ordered on February 2
Called as “Special Safety Audit Plan 2026 – Phase 1”, the exercise was ordered on February 2 and inspections began on February 9.
“Consequent to accident of M/s VSR Ventures Pvt Ltd Learjet 45 aircraft VT-SSK on 28 January 2026 at Baramati, the DGCA on Tuesday ordered a special safety audit of non-scheduled operators in a phased manner covering larger operators first, commenced from 4 February 2026 including M/s VSR Ventures,” the DGCA said in a statement.
The wide-ranging audit comes after the plane crash at Baramati airport on January 28 that killed Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar and four others. The charter flight was operated by Delhi-based non-scheduled operator VSR Ventures Pvt Ltd.
Ajit Pawar, four others killed in Baramati plane crash
It should be noted that Ajit Pawar and four other persons on board an aircraft were killed after it crashed near the Baramati airport in Maharashtra’s Pune district recently. Pawar had taken off from Mumbai in the morning to address four rallies in the day in Pune district for the February 5 zilla parishad elections.
The others killed in the tragedy were Captain Sumit Kapoor, who had a flying experience of 15,000 hours, co-pilot Capt. Shambhavi Pathak with 1,500 hours of flying, Personal Security Officer (PSO) Vidip Jadhav and flight attendant Pinky Mali. The government released a statement detailing the sequence of events that led to the crash and Pawar's death.
Learjet was cleared for landing in Baramati due to poor visibility
The aircraft, a Learjet, was cleared for landing in Baramati on Wednesday morning after a go-around due to poor visibility, but having finally received a clearance it did not give any read-back' to the ATC, and moments later burst into flames on the edge of the runway.
In aviation parlance, a go-around is a standard procedure where a pilot discontinues a landing attempt and initiates a climb to fly another approach. It is used when a landing cannot be completed safely due to factors like poor weather, an unstable approach, or traffic on the runway. It is a proactive safety measure rather than an emergency.
In aviation, a readback is a crucial safety procedure where a pilot repeats back the essential parts of a message or instruction received from Air Traffic Control (ATC). It acts as a "closed-loop" communication system, ensuring that the controller's instructions were heard and understood correctly by the flight crew.
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