Vijay Kumar Singh, the director and key owner of VSR Ventures Private Limited (operating as VSR Aviation), which operated the ill-fated flight, said Captain Sumit Kapur was a highly experienced pilot with over 16,000 hours of experience.
Ajit Pawar dies in plane crash in Baramati (IANS)
Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister and Nationalist Congress Party leader Ajit Pawar died in a charter plane crash in Maharashtra’s Baramati on Wednesday. Pawar was en route to Baramati from Mumbai to address political functions ahead of the zilla parishad elections.
Apart from Pawar, four other people died when the plane crashed while landing at the airport in Baramati at around 8.45 am. Captain Sumit Kapur, Captain Shambhavi Pathak, Vidip Jadhav and Pinky Mali were identified as the other deceased persons.
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Hours later, Vijay Kumar Singh, the director and key owner of VSR Ventures Private Limited (operating as VSR Aviation), which operated the ill-fated flight, said Captain Sumit Kapur was a highly experienced pilot with over 16,000 hours of experience. The co-pilot, Captain Shambhavi Pathak, also had a decent experience of around 1,500 hours.
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Singh further denied any issues with the plane, saying it was very well-maintained. He said the accident probably happened due to poor visibility.
“It was the pilot’s decision. He made an approach from runway 29, and then he carried out a missed approach, after which he again tried to make an attempt from runway 11. It is a very unfortunate incident. Primarily, it appears that the pilot could not see the runway.
“He (Capt. Kapur) was a very experienced pilot, with more than 16,000 hours of experience. The co-pilot also had 1,500 hours of experience. The Captain was very experienced. He was with Sahara, JetLite, Jet Airways and he was very experienced on this type of aeroplane also. The aircraft was very well-maintained. There was absolutely no problem in the aircraft; there was no technical failure in the aircraft as far as we know,” Singh stated.
#WATCH | Charter plane crash landing in Baramati (Maharashtra) | Delhi: Vijay Kumar Singh, director and key owner of VSR Ventures Private Limited (operating as VSR Aviation), which operated the ill-fated plane, says, “…It was the pilot’s decision. He made an approach from… pic.twitter.com/2NAU0JjLnq
— ANI (@ANI) January 28, 2026
Meanwhile, Captain (R) Ehsan Khalid, a former Indian Air Force pilot and a friend of the deceased pilot Captain Kapur, said the captain of the flight was well experienced.
“It was a tragic incident. I have known the pilot since my Sahara days, almost two decades ago. He was an experienced pilot.”
Captain Khalid said that, as far as he is aware, there was no distress call from the pilots. The incident happened possibly due to a combination of bad weather, technical issues, or pilot judgment error, he added.
“I am told that as the plane was making its first approach, it had to go around and make a second approach. I do not know whether the first approach was abandoned and the missed approach was carried out due to bad weather visibility alone, or whether there were also technical issues with the aircraft. To my knowledge, no call of technical malfunction has been reported.
“According to the media and the DGCA, the visibility was marginal. That means it was neither very good nor very bad. If it had been really bad, the pilot would not have attempted to land. Marginal visibility means the situation was unclear, a kind of “go or no-go” condition. Under such circumstances, especially at airfields like Baramati, which do not have many electronic aids to support operations, the actual visibility may not have been exactly as reported and could have been lower. The pilot in the aircraft does not see visibility as it is reported, so it could have been a combination of bad weather, technical issues, or pilot judgment error. This is under investigation, and the DGCA has already taken control of all the aircraft documents to determine whether there were any technical shortcomings at the time of release,” he stated further.
#WATCH | Seattle, USA: On Maharashtra Deputy CM Ajit Pawar’s Demise, Former IAF Pilot & friend of the deceased pilot in the crash, Capt (R) Ehsan Khalid says, “… It was a tragic incident. I have known the pilot since my Sahara days, almost two decades ago. He was an experienced… pic.twitter.com/tGpmWvXAiz
— ANI (@ANI) January 28, 2026
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