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The crash of the London-bound Air India flight AI-171 minutes after taking off from Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport, Ahmedabad, is one of the worst aviation disasters in India.
This is the first major crash to occur in the last five years. The previous major civilian air crash in India happened in 2020 in Kozhikode.
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Recap of some major crashes in India:
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2020: Air India Express Flight IX-1344 – Kozhikode
The Air-India Express Limited B737-800 aircraft VT-AXH was operating a quick return flight on Kozhikode-Dubai-Kozhikode under ‘Vande Bharat Mission’ to repatriate passengers who were stranded overseas due to the closure of airspace and flight operations owing to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The aircraft departed from Dubai for Kozhikode at 10:00 UTC (Coordinated Universal Time) as flight AXB 1344, carrying 184 passengers and six crew members.
AXB 1344 made two approaches for landing at Kozhikode. The aircraft carried out a missed approach on the first attempt while coming into land on runway 28. The second approach was on runway 10, and the aircraft landed at 14:10:25 UTC.
The aircraft could not be stopped on the runway and this ended in runway overrun. It fell to a depth of approximately 110 feet below the runway elevation and impacted the perimeter road that runs just below the tabletop runway, at a ground speed of 41 knots and then came to an abrupt halt on the airport perimeter road just short of the perimeter wall.
There was fuel leak from both the wing tanks; however, there was no post crash fire, stated the final investigation report of the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau.
The crash resulted in 158 fatalities, with only 8 survivors, most of whom were seated in the front section of the aircraft.
2010: Mangalore Crash
Air India Express flight IX-812 on a scheduled Quick Turn Around (QTA) on sector Mangalore-Dubai-Mangalore departed on the intervening night of May 21-22, 2010, and overshot the runway during landing, which led to the death of 158 flyers.
“The Court of Inquiry determines that cause of this accident was the Captain’s failure to discontinue the ‘unsterilized approach’ and his persistence in continuing with the landing, despite three calls from the First Officer to ‘go around’ and a number of warnings from EGPWS,” stated an official inquiry by the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau.
2000: Patna Air Crash
A Boeing 737 on Alliance Air Flight 7412 crashed during landing at Patna, killing over 60 people. The cause was loss of control due to pilot error.
1985: Kanishka Bombing
Air India’s Flight 182 operating on the Montreal-London-Delhi-Mumbai route suffered a major terrorist attack as Canadian Sikh extremists planted bombs that exploded mid-air, leading to the disintegration of the aircraft over the Atlantic Ocean and the death of all 329 passengers and crew members onboard. The aircraft was another Boeing 747-237B plane.
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