A CCTV-taped, harrowing footage of the last seconds of the chartered Learjet 45, which crashed Wednesday and killed Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar and four others, has surfaced. The video depicts the plane losing stability, flipping mid-air and plummeting steeply until smashing into the ground near the runway threshold.
Death Spiral Taken on Camera
The aircraft (Registration VT-SSK) is depicted as looking extremely unstable as it descends through low-hanging clouds – captured by a security camera near a local temple.
- The Flip: In the video, the wings of the plane start tilting at extreme angles before flipping the entire craft.
- Impact: Seconds later, as it disappears behind the tree line, a massive fireball erupts from the site and a thick plume of black smoke hangs over the landscape.
- Eyewitness Witness accounts: Local residents who witnessed the descent said the plane was "spiraling" and "flying unusually low" as it circled the airfield to make a second landing attempt.
Latest CCTV footage of another angle of Ajit Pawar's plane that crashed today
— Iron Hawk (@Iron_under_Flag) January 28, 2026
The aircraft took a sharp turn at high speed and crashed.
Temperatures are rising in MH and negligible fog can be seen.
Lets see what @DGCAIndia finds..#AjitPawar #AjitPawarPlaneCrash #AjitPawarDeath https://t.co/Fia3mSTgGF pic.twitter.com/fAHmIPx2Sn
Technical breakdown: What the video suggests
Aviation experts looking at the footage say the movement "flipping" could indicate a stall or a massive loss of control. “[T]his visual of the airplane flipping indicates possibly that the plane went below the minimum control speed when flying in poor visibility,” one retired pilot had said. “The AAIB will have to decide whether it was some mechanical failure, disorientation among the pilot, or sudden wind shear.”
State Mourning and Schools Update
Despite the state’s marking of the second day of its three-day period of mourning, there are still some variations in school schedules between regions:
- Funeral Today: Ajit Pawar’s last rites are being conducted on January 29, 11:00 am, at the Vidya Pratishthan grounds in Baramati, with full state honours.
- School Status: Mumbai & Pune were not open on Wednesday as a statewide holiday, as some schools have opened today. However, a number of Baramati schools and surrounding ones remain closed as the security cordons at the funeral of PM Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah are heavy.
Investigation Status
The AAIB has recovered the Black Box (Flight Data Recorder and Cockpit Voice Recorder). These devices, in combination with the new CCTV images, can begin to show investigators why the crew did not give a "read back" to their final landing clearance to Air Traffic Control.
