New Delhi: It has been over two years now since a Learjet 45 aircraft, operated by VSR Ventures, crash-landed at the Mumbai airport. The Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) has still not published its final report on that crash.
Having come under fire for this after the recent crash of a similar aircraft, carrying Maharashtra deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar, at the Baramati airport, the bureau has said that investigation into the September 2023 Learjet 45 crash in Mumbai is in its “final stages” and the investigating team is trying to finalise the report on top priority.
The AAIB said this on Monday, as reported by The Indian Express.
The aircraft that crashed at Baramati, killing Pawar and four others, was also a Learjet 45, operated by VSR Ventures.
While nobody was killed in the 2023 crash, there are marked similarities between the two incidents. Experts believe that the final report by the AAIB could identify a defect in the aircraft that can be rectified to prevent further accidents from taking place.
AAIB prepared a detailed preliminary report on the 2023 crash which included the initial outcome of the flight recorders. This report was published on the AAIB website.
“The investigation team has analysed all the evidence and other documents. The investigation is in final stages. The investigation team is trying their best to finalise the report on top priority,” the AAIB has been quoted as saying.
On September 14, 2023, a VSR-operated Learjet 45 – flying from Visakhapatnam to Mumbai – crash landed amid “heavy rains and reduced visibility”, as per information available in the preliminary probe report. There were eight people – two pilots and six passengers – on board the 14-year-old jet (registered as VT- DBL), and they all survived the accident.
“The aircraft took off normally from Visakhapatnam and the flight en route was uneventful. The aircraft established contact with Mumbai tower and was instructed to prepare for landing. The aircraft was cleared to land on Runway 27 and was given landing clearance at 113109 UTC (5:01 pm IST). At the time of landing, Mumbai Airport was experiencing heavy rains and reduced visibility,” the AAIB said in its preliminary investigation report into the accident.
Other factors that might have contributed to the crash were not mentioned in the report. Aircraft accident preliminary probe reports usually don’t delve too much into the causes and largely provide details of what happened.
It was mentioned in the report that in the VT-DBL accident, the aircraft continuously drifted right as it approached the runway, and about 40 seconds after the autopilot was disconnected, an alert sounded in the cockpit accompanied by a warning that the aircraft could stall. This was followed by ground proximity warnings, and the aircraft then crash landed at the shoulder of the intersection of two taxiways of the Mumbai airport.
“As a result, the aircraft’s fuselage broke into two pieces and skidded, finally coming to a stop near the intersection of Taxiway U and Taxiway N on an unpaved area…Following the crash, a fire broke out and fire tenders rushed to the site and extinguished the fire. All occupants of the aircraft were evacuated, but they sustained various injuries due to the impact and were immediately admitted to the nearest hospital. Passengers and PIC (pilot in command) were discharged after precautionary treatment. The co-pilot received serious injuries and was admitted for a longer time,” the preliminary probe report said.
The Learjet 45 is a mid-size business jet aircraft manufactured by Canada’s Bombardier Aerospace. There were around 640 such planes built during its manufacturing run between 1995 and 2012.
The DGCA database says that the Delhi-based VSR had a fleet of 17 aircraft, including the one that crashed last Wednesday (January 28). The AAIB has started its investigation into the fatal crash.
The plane involved in last week’s accident was a 15-year-old jet bearing registration VT-SSK. It took off from Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport at around 8.10 am and disappeared from the radar at about 8.45 am, as per the flight tracking data from Flightradar24. According to preliminary information provided by the government, the plane had crashed at around 8.44 am. The flight path shows the aircraft making a loop to line up with the runway as it prepared to land at the Baramati airport, before disappearing from the flight tracker.
