A training aircraft operated by Redbird Flight Training Academy crashed near Gojubavi village in Baramati taluka, Pune district, Maharashtra on May 13, 2026, Pune Rural Police confirmed. The pilot on board remained safe with no reported injuries — the only piece of unambiguous relief in what is becoming a recurring safety concern at one of Maharashtra’s most accident-prone training airfields.
The aircraft came down in the same general geographic area as the high-profile January 28, 2026 Learjet 45 crash that killed Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar and four others — a coincidence that has drawn immediate attention to Baramati’s airfield safety record and infrastructure limitations.
What happened on May 13?
The training aircraft, operated by Redbird — a flight training provider active at Baramati airfield — went down near Gojubavi village, located close to the Baramati airport and airstrip. The exact cause of the crash has not been officially confirmed and is under investigation by local police and likely the Directorate General of Civil Aviation. Initial reports indicate a possible technical issue, though no official determination has been made at the time of publication.
The pilot escaped without injury — a fortunate outcome given the circumstances, and one that distinguishes this incident from the fatal January crash in the same area.
The Baramati airfield safety record
May 13’s crash is not an isolated event. Baramati has accumulated a pattern of training aircraft incidents that has drawn repeated attention to the airfield’s infrastructure and oversight framework.
In 2023, separate training aircraft incidents at or near Baramati resulted in injuries. In August 2025, a crash-landing occurred due to a combination of tyre damage and a bird strike. The January 28, 2026 Learjet 45 crash — in which Ajit Pawar, then Maharashtra’s Deputy Chief Minister, and four others were killed — was the most devastating incident in the airfield’s history and triggered calls for a comprehensive safety review of Baramati’s operations.
Analysts and aviation safety observers have pointed to several structural factors that contribute to the elevated incident rate at Baramati. The airfield operates as an uncontrolled field — meaning there is no air traffic control tower providing active guidance to pilots — which increases the risk of mid-air conflicts and puts greater responsibility on pilots to self-separate. The single-runway configuration limits the flexibility available in emergency situations. Training traffic density at the airfield has been a recurring concern, with multiple academies operating simultaneously in a constrained airspace with limited infrastructure support.
Redbird Flight Training Academy at Baramati
Redbird is among the flight training providers operating at Baramati airfield, which has become a significant hub for pilot training in Maharashtra given its relatively uncongested airspace compared to the main Pune airport. The academy trains student pilots on light aircraft — the category involved in today’s incident — which are inherently more vulnerable to technical failures, weather events, and pilot error than commercial category aircraft.
The DGCA is expected to investigate the May 13 crash, as it does all aviation incidents in India. Whether today’s crash accelerates the ongoing scrutiny of Baramati’s airfield safety framework — a conversation that has been running since the January 2026 Learjet tragedy — remains to be seen.
This is a developing story. Business Upturn will update this report as official investigations by Pune Rural Police and the DGCA provide further details on the cause and circumstances of the May 13 crash.
Disclaimer: Details in this article are based on initial reports from Pune Rural Police and early media coverage. Official investigation findings may differ from preliminary accounts.