PUNE: The plane crash on Wednesday that killed deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar and four others has raised questions about aviation weather protocols — particularly the pre-flight weather briefing procedures for chartered aircraft and the visibility conditions during landing.The Learjet 45, which departed from Mumbai and crashed near the Baramati airstrip, was operating as a non-scheduled charter flight. According to a senior official from IMD’s civil aviation services division, this category of aircraft does not receive direct weather briefings from the India Meteorological Department.“Baramati airstrip lies outside IMD jurisdiction and does not have any meteorological office on site. We don’t provide services there,” an official said, adding that it was a small, non-commercial facility primarily used for private and temporary landings.This stands in contrast to major Indian airports where IMD units provide comprehensive weather bulletins — covering cloud cover, visibility, and other aviation-critical parameters — for both departure and arrival points. For non-scheduled and charter flights, pilots typically rely on IMD’s Online Briefing System (OLBS), a centralised platform run by IMD offices at international airports in Chennai and New Delhi. Access requires airline registration and approval from the ministry of civil aviation.“National carriers get official OLBS accounts through proper procedures,” the official said. “Charter operators with accounts can log in and obtain all weather data themselves. But we don’t know whether this particular aircraft was registered or accessed the system,” the official added.While scheduled and VVIP flights receive direct IMD briefings, charter operators depend mainly on the self-service online portal.A PIB press release stated that when the aircraft contacted Baramati, airfield staff reported calm winds and visibility of around 3,000 meters (about 3km).A former IMD official with aviation experience suggested this visibility might have been inadequate. “Visibility should be above 5km for safe landing,” the expert said, emphasising that landing decisions ultimately rested with pilots and Air Traffic Control (ATC), and vary depending on aircraft specifications.He said smaller airstrips like Baramati, which lacked on-site IMD offices, relied on ATC’s own equipment for weather updates. “Such airfields generally do not issue METARs, the standardized half-hourly weather observations used widely in aviation,” the official said.According to a DGCA statement on Wednesday, Baramati is an “uncontrolled airfield” where traffic information is provided by instructors or pilots from the local flying training organizations.Baramati is also categorised as a table-top airport, located on elevated terrain. IMD officials said such airports posed additional risks. “Table-top airports are situated on small hills, above sea level. Their runways are often shorter than those at major airports, reducing the margin for landing and taxiing,” another IMD official said.

Arijit Singh sent shockwaves through the music fraternity on Tuesday after announcing that he is stepping away from playback singing, a decision that left fans, musicians and filmmakers stunned. As reactions poured in across social media, old posts by cricketer Virat Kohli resurfaced, once again highlighting his long-standing admiration for the singer.Soon after Arijit’s announcement, a tweet shared by Kohli in 2016 began circulating online. In the post, dated January 26, 2016, the former Indian captain had written, “I am probably one of the biggest fans of Arijit Singh. Mesmerized by his talent and soulful voice. I am short of words actually.”Another throwback post featuring a picture of Kohli with Arijit has also gone viral. The ace cricketer shared a photo with the singer and wrote, “Pure fanboy moment for me. What an amazing person he is. No one has captivated me with their voice like this man. God bless you Arijit.” Fans were quick to draw parallels between Arijit Singh’s unexpected announcement and Virat Kohli’s own surprise retirement from Test cricket last year. One user commented, “Arijit is the Virat Kohli of music. His retirement has left me in shock,” while another observed, “Both chose to retire when they were at the top of their game.”Some reactions took a humorous turn as well. One fan joked, “Kohli retired from tests. Arijit retired from singing. But ‘Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai’ is still playing on TV.”In his social media statement, Arijit clarified that his decision applies only to playback singing and not to music as a whole. He explained that he now wants to focus on Indian classical music and his own compositions. “I will make my own music. Will come up with my music whenever I am ready. I am going back to Indian Classical Music. I wanna go back to making music. I wanna start again,” he wrote.Responding to fans on X, Arijit also revealed that the decision had been in the works for a long time. “There is not one reason behind this, there are several reasons plus I have been trying to do this since a long time. Finally I have gathered the right courage,” he shared.Speaking about his creative restlessness, the singer added, “One of the reasons is simple, I get bored pretty quick, that’s why I keep changing arrangements of the same songs and perform them on stage. So here is the thing, I got bored. I need to do some other music to live.”He also mentioned his eagerness to see fresh voices emerge in the industry. “Another reason is I am excited to hear some singer come up and give me real motivation,” Arijit wrote.