New Delhi, February 24 Following the discovery of several compliance lapses, the aviation regulator, DGCA, on Tuesday directed the grounding of four aircraft belonging to VSR Ventures, whose plane crashed in Baramati last month, killing Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar and four others.
Following the January 28 crash of the Learjet 45 aircraft (VT-SSK), the Directorate General of Civil Aviation had ordered a special safety audit of VSR Ventures.
The multi-disciplinary audit team observed several non-compliance of approved procedures in the areas of airworthiness, air safety, and flight operations, the regulator said in a statement.
"In view of the non-compliances observed and considering the gaps in maintenance procedures, it has been decided to initiate corrective measures by immediately grounding the Learjet 40/45 aircraft with registration VT-VRA, VT-VRS, VT-VRV, and VT-TRI until continued airworthiness standards are restored," it said.
Further, the DGCA said that deficiency reporting forms have been issued to VSR Ventures in the concerned areas to submit a root cause analysis on the non-compliances. The submissions will be assessed by the regulatory body before the next course of action.
Pawar and four others were killed in the crash of a Learjet 45 plane, owned by VSR Ventures, near Baramati on January 28.
While the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) is expected to release its preliminary report into the fatal crash before February 28, concerns have been raised in certain quarters claiming that there could have been a conspiracy that led to the crash.
