Indian Airlines

Safety profile and incident history for Indian Airlines.

Safety Score

8.5/10

Total Incidents

58

Total Fatalities

882

Recent Incidents

Dornier DO228

Jaipur Rajasthan

The crew was completing a local training flight at Jaipur-Sanganer Airport. After touchdown, the twin engine aircraft skidded on runway, veered off runway and came to rest. Both pilots escaped uninjured while the aircraft was damaged beyond repair.

Airbus A300

New Delhi-Indira Gandhi National Capital Territory of Delhi

A group of five technicians/engineers of the company was preparing the aircraft to be transferred to a hangar for maintenance. After engine startup, the power was reduced to idle after someone inadvertently pulled out the circuit breaker. The aircraft jumped the chocks and started to roll. Since the engine's power was in idle, the brakes and the nosewheel steering system were inoperative. The crew elected to reduce power on the left engine but mistakenly increased the power on the right engine by 90%. This caused the aircraft to rotate 80° when control was lost. The airplane rolled through a perimeter wall, causing the nose gear to collapse. All five occupants escaped uninjured while the aircraft was damaged beyond repair.

Boeing 737-200

New Delhi-Indira Gandhi National Capital Territory of Delhi

Following a wrong approach configuration, the aircraft landed too far down the runway, about 600 metres from the runway end. Unable to stop within the remaining distance, the aircraft overran, struck a concrete wall (45 cm high) and came to rest 450 metres further. All 108 occupants were evacuated safely and the aircraft was damaged beyond repair.

Airbus A300

Tirupati Andhra Pradesh

Indian Airlines Airbus A-300 aircraft VT-EDV was operating scheduled flight IC-440 (Madras - Hyderabad sector) on 15.11.1993. There were a total of 262 persons were on board the aircraft including 247+3 passengers and 12 crew members. The aircraft could not land at Hyderabad due to low visibility and carried out a missed approach. After the missed approach, the aircraft reported "Flap Problem" and was holding overhead at Hyderabad during which the flight crew enquired visibility at nearby Air Force airfields which was also low. The aircraft then diverted to Madras. Due to flaps problem, the crew had to maintain low speed and low altitude as a result of which it experienced fuel shortage and sought permission from Madras control for landing at Tirupati. However, the aircraft could not reach even Tirupati airport and executed forced landing in an open paddy field about 14 nautical miles from Tirupati airport. The aircraft dragged on the soft paddy field before coming to final stop. There was no fire. Passenger evacuation was carried out by means of escape slides. All the persons on board escaped unhurt except four who received minor injuries.

April 26, 1993 55 Fatalities

Boeing 737-200

Aurangabad Maharashtra

Indian Airlines Boeing 737 aircraft VT-ECQ was operating scheduled flight IC491 from Delhi to Jaipur, Udaipur, Aurangabad and Bombay. The flight from Delhi to Aurangabad was uneventful. The aircraft took-off from Aurangabad with 118 persons on board. Aircraft lifted up almost at the end of runway and impacted heavily with a lorry carrying pressed cotton bales running from North to South on a highway at a distance of about 410 feet from the end of runway. The aircraft left main landing gear, left engine bottom cowling and thrust reverser impacted the left side of the truck at a height of nearly seven feet from the level of the road. Thereafter the aircraft hit the high tension electric wires nearly 3 kms North-East of the runway and hit the ground. In all 55 persons received fatal injuries. The aircraft was destroyed due to post impact fire.

Tupolev TU-154

New Delhi-Indira Gandhi National Capital Territory of Delhi

On 9th January, 1993 TU-154 aircraft No. 85533 wet leased by Indian Airlines from Uzbekistan Airways was operating flight IC-840 from Hyderabad to Delhi. The aircraft was being flown by Uzbeki operating crew and there were 165 persons on board including the crew. The aircraft touched down slightly outside the right edge of the runway, collided with some fixed installations on the ground, got airborne once again and finally touched down on kutcha ground on the right side of the runway. At this stage the right wing and the tail of the aircraft broke away and it came to rest in an inverted position. During the process, the aircraft caught fire and was destroyed. Most occupants of the aircraft escaped unhurt. Six persons suffered either limb fracture or other serious injuries while 45 persons suffered injuries of a minor nature.

August 16, 1991 69 Fatalities

Boeing 737-200

Imphal Manipur

The aircraft departed Calcutta-Dum Dum Airport at 1154 on a regular schedule service to Imphal, Manipur. On descent, the crew encountered poor weather conditions and the visibility was low. After being cleared to descend to 10,000 feet, the crew obtain the permission to make a direct outbound course in view of an ILS approach to runway 04. While completing a turn to join the approach path, the crew failed to realize his altitude was insufficient when the GPWS alarm sounded in the cockpit during 6,3 seconds. The aircraft struck the slope of Mt Thangjing located 39 km southwest of runway 04 threshold and disintegrated on impact. All 69 occupants were killed.

February 14, 1990 92 Fatalities

Airbus A320

Bangalore-Hindustan Karnataka

Indian Airlines Flight 605 took off from Mumbai, India, at 11:58 for a domestic flight to Bangalore. At 12:25 Bangalore approach was contacted and prevailing weather was passed on to the crew (wind variable 5 knots, visibility 10 km, clouds 2 octa 2,000 feet, temperature 27° C, QNH 1018). At 12:44 the aircraft was cleared to descend to FL110. Reaching FL110, vectors were given for a visual runway 09 approach. On final approach, the aircraft descended well below the normal approach profile and kept descending until it struck the boundaries of the Karnataka Golf Club (2,300 feet short of the runway and 200 feet right of the extended centerline. The aircraft rolled for 80 feet and lifted off again for about 230 feet and came down again on the 17th green of the golf course. The landing gear wheels dug into the ground and the aircraft impacted a 12 feet high embankment, causing the gears and engines to be sheared off. The aircraft continued over the embankment and came to rest in a grassy, marshy and rocky area.

October 19, 1988 133 Fatalities

Boeing 737-200

Ahmedabad Gujarat

Indian Airlines B-737 aircraft VT-EAH was operating scheduled flight IC113 (Bombay - Ahmedabad sector) on 19-10-1988. There were 135 occupants on board including 6 crew members. Aircraft contacted Ahmedabad Approach Control at 0620LT. Ahmedabad weather as per Metar of 0540LT was passed to the aircraft and again at 0625LT (speci) of 0610LT was passed to the aircraft and then visibility has been reduced from 6 km to 3 km. Clearance to descend to FL150 was given at 0632LT and the aircraft was further cleared to FL55, 25 DME at 0636LT. At 0641LT, the aircraft was advised to report over Ahmedabad VOR and 'Speci' of 0640LT was also transmitted to the aircraft as per the same the winds were calm, visibility 2 km in haze and was 1010. QNH was correctly read back by the aircraft. The pilot decided to carry localiser-DME approach for runway 23 and reported overhead Ahmedabad. The aircraft went outbound and reported turning inbound. This was the last transmission from the aircraft and thereafter contact with the ATC was lost at 0650:53. The aircraft was found crashed at a distance of 2,540 meters from the beginning of runway 23 on the extended centre line of the runway in a paddy field at about 0653LT. Out of 135 persons on board, 133 received fatal injuries. The remaining two were seriously injured. The aircraft was destroyed due to post impact fire.

Boeing 737-200

New Delhi-Indira Gandhi National Capital Territory of Delhi

Indian Airlines flight IC422 was a domestic service from Srinagar to Delhi via Jammu and Chandigarh, India. The aircraft, a Boeing 737-200, landed gear up on runway 10 at Delhi-Indira Gandhi International Airport. The left engine then caught fire due to a fuel leak from ruptured fuel lines and a broken fuel control unit. The fire was quickly put out by fire services. All 134 occupants evacuated safely.

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