New Delhi:
New details have emerged about Captain Sumit Kapoor, the pilot who lost his life in the plane crash that also killed Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, revealing that he was not originally scheduled to operate the flight on the day of the accident.
Friends and colleagues of the pilot said Kapoor stepped in at the last moment after another pilot assigned to the flight was delayed due to traffic. Speaking on the sidelines of Kapoor’s funeral in Delhi, they said he received instructions to take over the flight only a few hours before departure.
Kapoor had reportedly returned from Hong Kong just days earlier and was preparing to resume routine duties when he was asked to fly the Learjet 45 carrying Pawar from Mumbai to Baramati for election-related engagements. The aircraft was operated by Delhi-based VSR Ventures Pvt Ltd.
The jet took off from Mumbai around 8 am with five people on board. The crash occurred approximately 45 minutes later during a second landing attempt at Baramati airport. Aviation officials confirmed that the aircraft went down while approaching the runway, leaving no survivors.
Along with Captain Kapoor, the crash claimed the lives of co-pilot Captain Shambhavi Pathak, flight attendant Pinky Mali, Pawar’s security personnel Vidip Jadhav, and the senior political leader himself.
The revelation that the pilot was a last-minute replacement has added a new dimension to the tragedy, highlighting the chain of unforeseen circumstances leading up to one of Maharashtra’s most shocking aviation accidents in recent years. Investigations into the cause of the crash are ongoing, with multiple aviation agencies examining technical data and operational decisions.
