Three aviation incidents at Baramati in seven months should be enough to make even the most complacent regulator nervous. Instead, the runway appears to have been allowed to deteriorate while promises of an upgrade gather dust. There is something profoundly disturbing about the latest aircraft incident at Baramati where the two pilots fortunately escaped unharmed. In January this year, a chartered aircraft carrying Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar and four others had crashed near the Baramati airstrip owing to low visibility, killing everyone aboard. On May 13, another aircraft crash-landed near the airfield. Now, another trainer aircraft has run beyond the runway after two rejected take-offs. The incidents ought to have triggered a more muscular response than another round of assurances. The Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau’s preliminary findings that were conducted after the crash that killed Pawar make the situation considerably harder to explain away. The runway had last been re-carpeted in March 2016. Its markings had faded while loose gravel was lying on the surface. There was no dedicated meteorological facility and no in-house aircraft rescue and firefighting unit and boundary fencing was inadequate. Baramati airfield, where regular flying-training and non-scheduled operations take place, is essentially an uncontrolled aerodrome. The question is why the state of things continue to exist? The maddening part is the timing. After the death of Ajit Pawar, did nobody think to ask whether the airstrip was fit for the traffic it was handling? Did nobody think a runway whose markings had faded and whose surface contained loose gravel warranted immediate intervention? Why should an airfield wait for a final accident report before basic safety infrastructure becomes a priority? And where, precisely, is the regulator? The AAIB can investigate. It cannot regulate. That responsibility rests with the civil-aviation system, particularly the Directorate General of Civil Aviation, which is now being urged to ensure safety standards at uncontrolled airfields. But aviation safety cannot work on the principle that one agency investigates yesterday’s accident while another waits for tomorrow. The political irony is almost unbearable. Murlidhar Mohol is not merely Pune’s Lok Sabha MP; he is the Union Minister of State for Civil Aviation. This is, quite literally, an aviation-safety problem in his political backyard and within his ministerial brief. The government says Baramati is now set for an upgrade. But infrastructure announcements are not safety measures until they are built, certified and operational. In India’s expanding aviation and developing regional air connectivity, there is an ugly contradiction in celebrating more airports while allowing existing airfields to acquire potholes, gravel and faded markings. Baramati has had its tragedy and two warnings since. The question is whether the government will act before the runway claims lives again.
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