Baramati tabletop runway a factor in Ajit Pawar's crash? Aviation experts weigh in
India Today
Maharashtra Deputy CM Ajit Pawar's death in a Learjet crash at Baramati airport has reignited fears over the safety of tabletop runways in India, but are those fears justified, did runway design worsen the tragedy or is the risk overstated? Aviation experts break it down.
The death of Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar in a Learjet crash at Baramati Airport on Wednesday morning has reignited concerns over aviation hazards at India’s tabletop runways, amid reports suggesting a botched landing at the elevated facility.
The tragedy draws parallels to past disasters at India’s tabletop runways, including the 2020 Air India Express overrun at Kozhikode amid poor visibility and monsoon rains, which killed 21, and the 2010 Mangalore crash that claimed 158 lives. Both incidents were attributed largely to pilot error but exacerbated by the challenging design of the runways.
Baramati Airport, one of India’s six tabletop runways alongside Kozhikode, Mangalore, Lengpui, Shimla, and Pakyong, has once again brought attention to the inherent risks of such elevated strips.
Perched atop hilltop plateaus with steep drops at either end, tabletop runways leave pilots minimal room for error and can create optical illusions that make the runway appear deceptively closer than it actually is.
However, a senior pilot, who is familiar with the runway in Baramati, dismissed the idea that the tabletop nature was the primary factor in Baramati plane crash.
“At the end of the day, a tabletop runway is still a runway,” he said. “What matters is the threshold, the touchdown point, and the available runway length, not whether it sits on a table, by the sea, or on a plain.”
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