Air India Flight 101

Air India Flight 101
Crash site of Flight 101
Accident
Date24 January 1966 (1966-01-24)
SummaryControlled flight into terrain
SiteMont Blanc massif, France
45°52′40″N 06°52′00″E / 45.87778°N 6.86667°E / 45.87778; 6.86667
Aircraft

A similar Air India 707
Aircraft typeBoeing 707-437
Aircraft nameKanchenjunga
OperatorAir India
IATA flight No.AI101
ICAO flight No.AIC101
Call signAIRINDIA 101
RegistrationVT-DMN
Flight originSahar International Airport, Bombay, India
1st stopoverDelhi International Airport, New Delhi, India
2nd stopoverBeirut International Airport, Beirut, Lebanon
Last stopoverGeneva International Airport, Geneva, Switzerland
DestinationHeathrow Airport, London, United Kingdom
Occupants117
Passengers106
Crew11
Fatalities117
Survivors0

Air India Flight 101 was a scheduled Air India passenger flight from Bombay (present-day Mumbai) to London, via Delhi, Beirut, and Geneva. On the morning of 24 January 1966 at 8:02 CET, on approach to Geneva, the Boeing 707-437 operating the flight accidentally crashed into Mont Blanc in France, killing all 117 people on board. Among the victims was Dr. Homi Jehangir Bhabha, the founder and chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission of India.

The accident occurred just a few hundred feet away from where an Air India Lockheed 749 Constellation operating as Air India Flight 245 while on a charter flight, had crashed in 1950.[1]

Accident

Air India Flight 101 was a scheduled flight from Bombay to London; and on the day of the accident was operated by a Boeing 707, registration VT-DMN and named Kanchenjunga.[2] The Pilot-In-Command was an 18-year veteran, Captain Joe T. D'Souza.[3] After leaving Bombay, it had made two scheduled stops, at Delhi and Beirut, and was en route to another stop at Geneva.[2] At flight level 190 (19,000 feet; 5,800 m), the crew was instructed to descend for Geneva International Airport after the aircraft had passed Mont Blanc.[2] The pilot, thinking that he had passed Mont Blanc, started to descend and flew into the Mont Blanc massif in France near the Rocher de la Tournette, at an elevation of 4,750 metres (15,584 ft).[2][4] All 106 passengers and 11 crew were killed.[4][1]

Aircraft

The Boeing 707-437 VT-DMN had first flown on 5 April 1961 and was delivered new to Air India on 25 May 1961.[5] It had flown a total of 16,188 hours.[5] It was named Kanchenjunga, after the third highest mountain in the world.

Casualties

Among the 117 passengers who died was Dr. Homi Jehangir Bhabha, the founder and chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission of India.[4]

Investigation

At the time, aircrew fixed the position of their aircraft as being above Mont Blanc by taking a cross-bearing from one VHF omnidirectional range (VOR) as they flew along a track from another VOR. However, the accident aircraft departed Beirut with one of its VOR receivers unserviceable.[2][4]

The investigation concluded:[2]

a) The pilot-in-command calculated his position in relation to Mont Blanc and reported his own estimate of this position to the controller; the radar controller noted a different position of the aircraft and passed a communication to the aircraft which would enable it to change its position.

b) The pilot who, under the mistaken impression that he had passed the ridge leading to the summit and was still at a flight level which afforded sufficient safety clearance over the top of Mont Blanc, continued his descent.

Recent discoveries

English text of the monument at refuge du Nid d'Aigle in Mont-Blanc Massif.

Much of the wreckage of the crashed Boeing still remains at the crash site. In 2008, a climber found some Indian newspapers dated 23 January 1966.[6] An engine from Air India Flight 245, which had crashed at virtually the same spot sixteen years earlier in 1950, was also discovered.

On 21 August 2012, a 9-kilogram (20 lb) jute bag of diplomatic mail, stamped "On Indian Government Service, Diplomatic Mail, Ministry of External Affairs", was recovered by a mountain rescue worker and turned over to local police in Chamonix.[7][8] An official with the Indian Embassy in Paris took custody of the mailbag, which was found to be a "Type C" diplomatic pouch meant for newspapers, periodicals, and personal letters. Indian diplomatic pouches "Type A" (classified information) and "Type B" (official communications) are still in use today; "Type C" mailbags were made obsolete with the advent of the Internet.[9] The mailbag was found to contain, among other items, still-white and legible copies of The Hindu and The Statesman from mid-January 1966, Air India calendars, and a personal letter to the Indian consul-general in New York, C.J.K. Menon.[10] The bag was flown back to New Delhi on a regular Air India flight, in the charge of C.R. Barooah, the flight purser. His father, R.C. Barooah, was the flight engineer on Air India Flight 101.[11][12]

In September 2013, a French alpinist found a metal box marked with the Air India logo at the site of the plane crash on Mont Blanc containing rubies, sapphires and emeralds, valued at over €245,000, which he handed in to the police to be returned to the rightful owners.[6][13] As no rightful owners were found, however, in December 2021, the gems were divided up equally between the alpinist and the Chamonix commune: each receiving an amount of stones equivalent to €75,000.[14] As part of her research for her book Crash au Mont-Blanc, which tells the story of the two Air India crashes on the mountain, Françoise Rey found a record of a box of emeralds sent to a man named Issacharov in London, described by Lloyd's.[6] On 11 October 2023, the part belonging to the alpinist was sold at an auction in Chambéry for €25,000.[15]

In 2017, Daniel Roche, a Swiss climber who has searched the Bossons Glacier for wreckage from Air India Flights 245 and 101, found human remains and wreckage including a Boeing 707 aircraft engine.[16] In July 2020, as a result of melting of the glacier, Indian newspapers from 1966 were found in good condition.[17]

Flight Number

While it is customary for airlines to retire flight numbers in the aftermath of fatal crashes, Air India continues to use flight number 101, with the route from Delhi to New York–JFK. The flight is operated by a Boeing 777-300ER, previously operated by a Boeing 747-400.

On 11 September 2018, Flight 101, a Boeing 777-300ER (registered VT-ALQ), operating from New Delhi to New York JFK airport, suffered multiple instrument failures and was unable to perform an ILS approach into any airport. Because of bad weather, the flight had to hold, resulting in a critical low fuel situation as well. The flight was able to divert to Newark, where it landed safely.[18]

References

Notes

  1. ^ a b Sean Mendis (26 July 2004). "Air India : The story of the aircraft". Airwhiners.net. Archived from the original on 24 July 2016. Retrieved 13 June 2013.
  2. ^ a b c d e f Accident description at the Aviation Safety Network
  3. ^ Haine, Colonel Edgar A. (2000). Disaster In The Air. London: Cornwall Books. p. 147. ISBN 0-8453-4777-2.
  4. ^ a b c d "The Air-India Disaster". Flight International: 174. 3 February 1966. Archived from the original on 25 September 2013. Retrieved 21 December 2009.
  5. ^ a b Pither 1998, p. 291
  6. ^ a b c Patrick Bodenham (14 March 2014). "The mystery of Mont Blanc's hidden treasure". BBC News. Archived from the original on 13 August 2020. Retrieved 13 July 2020.
  7. ^ "Diplomatic post bag from 1966 Indian plane crash found on Mont Blanc". The Daily Telegraph. 30 August 2012. Archived from the original on 3 December 2013. Retrieved 28 November 2013.
  8. ^ "Indian diplomatic bag found on Mt Blanc after 46 years". Agence-France-Presse. 29 August 2012. Archived from the original on 26 February 2014. Retrieved 22 February 2019.
  9. ^ "Indian diplomatic bag found after 46 years". Firstpost.com. 18 September 2012. Archived from the original on 28 November 2016. Retrieved 27 February 2017.
  10. ^ "'Diplomatic bag' reaches New Delhi". Deccan Herald. 19 September 2012. Archived from the original on 23 February 2019. Retrieved 27 February 2017.
  11. ^ "AI purser brings back diplomatic bag lost in crash that killed father". Indian Express. Archived from the original on 17 August 2022. Retrieved 27 February 2017.
  12. ^ "Diplomatic bag lost in air crash brought back home". assamtribune.com. 15 September 2010. Archived from the original on 17 August 2022. Retrieved 21 July 2022.
  13. ^ "Climber finds treasure trove off Mont Blanc". Yahoo News Malaysia. AFP. 26 September 2013. Archived from the original on 28 September 2013.
  14. ^ "Climber can keep $84,000-worth of jewels he found on Mont Blanc". CNN. 7 December 2021. Archived from the original on 9 December 2021. Retrieved 7 December 2021.
  15. ^ "Un trésor, découvert sur un glacier du massif du Mont-Blanc, vendu aux enchères". RTS. 11 October 2023.
  16. ^ Majumdar, Neera (24 January 2018). "Sabotage or accident? The theories about how India lost nuclear energy pioneer Homi Bhabha". ThePrint.in. Archived from the original on 12 December 2020. Retrieved 7 September 2019.
  17. ^ "Indian papers resurfacing in French Alps could be from 1966 plane crash". BBC News. 13 July 2020. Archived from the original on 13 July 2020. Retrieved 13 July 2020.
  18. ^ "Multiple Failures, Low Fuel, Zero Visibility: The Inside Story of Air India Flight 101". Archived from the original on 28 February 2024. Retrieved 28 February 2024.

Bibliography

Read other articles:

We Belong Together

Questa voce o sezione sugli argomenti singoli R&B e singoli hip hop non cita le fonti necessarie o quelle presenti sono insufficienti. Puoi migliorare questa voce aggiungendo citazioni da fonti attendibili secondo le linee guida sull'uso delle fonti. Segui i suggerimenti del progetto di riferimento. We Belong Togethersingolo discograficoScreenshot tratto dal video del branoArtistaMariah Carey Pubblicazione22 marzo 2005 4 luglio 2005 Durata3:23 Album di provenienzaThe Emancipatio...

 

 

Elmo Nüganen

Nüganen pada 2020 Elmo Nüganen, lahir 15 Februari 1962, adalah seorang sutradara teater, sutradara film dan aktor Estonia. Ia menjadi sutradara artistik Teater Kota Tallinn sejak 1992. Ia menjadi profesor di Akademi Musik dan Teater Estonia pada 1998-2002 dan 2008-2012. Ia menyutradara film perang Names in Marble dari 2002 dan 1944 dari 2015.[1] 1944 memiliki jumlah audien minggu pembuka tertinggi dalam sejarah film Estonia dan menjadi perwakilan negara tersebut untuk Academy Awards...

 

 

Ayşe Kulin

Turkish novelist and columnist This biography of a living person needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately from the article and its talk page, especially if potentially libelous.Find sources: Ayşe Kulin – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (February 2009) (Learn how and when to remove this templa...

Bahasa Babuza

Bahasa BabuzaDituturkan diTaiwanEtnisBabuza, TaokasPenutur35 jiwa Rumpun bahasaAustronesia Formosa Utara ?Formosa Dataran Barat ?Babuza Bentuk awalFavorlang? Babuza DialekPoavosa Taokas † Kode bahasaISO 639-3bzg (bersama Favorlang)Glottologbabu1240[1]QIDQ716615 Status konservasi C10Kategori 10Kategori ini menunjukkan bahwa bahasa telah punah (Extinct)C9Kategori 9Kategori ini menunjukkan bahwa bahasa sudah ditinggalkan dan hanya segelintir yang menuturkannya (Dormant)C...

 

 

Gerontology

Study of the social, psychological and biological aspects of aging For the journal, see Gerontology (journal). This article is written like a personal reflection, personal essay, or argumentative essay that states a Wikipedia editor's personal feelings or presents an original argument about a topic. Please help improve it by rewriting it in an encyclopedic style. (December 2017) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) Older adults playing cards in Amsterdam, 1970 Part of a series...

 

 

Otylia Jędrzejczak

Otylia Jędrzejczak Informations Nages Nage libre, papillon Nationalité Polonaise Naissance 13 décembre 1983 (40 ans) Lieu Ruda Śląska Club AZS AWF Warszawa Records Grand bassin 200 m pap : 2 min 5 s 61 Petit bassin 200 m pap : 2 min 3 s 53 Palmarès Médailles obtenues Jeux olympiques 1 2 Ch. du monde grand bassin 2 3 2 Ch. du monde petit bassin 1 Ch. d'Europe grand bassin 5 3 2 Ch. d'Europe petit bassin 3 1 1 modifier...

Let's All Sing with The Chipmunks

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.Find sources: Let's All Sing with The Chipmunks – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (October 2021) (Learn how and when to remove this message) 1959 studio album by Ross Bagdasarian and Alvin and the ChipmunksLet's All Sing with the ChipmunksStudio album by ...

 

 

DeAndre Daniels

American basketball player DeAndre DanielsDaniels with UConn in 2012Free agentPositionSmall forwardPersonal informationBorn (1992-04-15) April 15, 1992 (age 32)Woodland Hills, California, U.S.Listed height6 ft 9 in (2.06 m)Listed weight210 lb (95 kg)Career informationHigh school Taft (Woodland Hills, California) IMG Academy (Bradenton, Florida) CollegeUConn (2011–2014)NBA draft2014: 2nd round, 37th overall pickSelected by the Toronto RaptorsPlaying career2014�...

 

 

Strada statale 654 di Val Nure

Strada statale 654di Val NureDenominazioni precedentiStrada provinciale 146 di Val NureStrada provinciale 81Strada provinciale 28 del TomarloStrada provinciale 654 R di Val Nure (in Emilia-Romagna)Strada provinciale 654 di Val di Nure (in Liguria) LocalizzazioneStato Italia Regioni Emilia-Romagna Liguria Province Piacenza Parma Genova DatiClassificazioneStrada statale InizioPiacenza FineRezzoaglio Lunghezza96,900[1] km Provvedimento di istituzioneD.M. 111...

Air guitar

Form of dance and movement For other uses, see Air guitar (disambiguation). Joe Cocker's signature movements helped lead to air guitar. Air guitar is a form of dance and movement in which the performer pretends to play an imaginary rock or heavy metal-style electric guitar, including riffs and solos. Playing an air guitar usually consists of exaggerated strumming and picking motions, and is often coupled with loud singing or lip-synching. Air guitar is generally used in the imaginary simulati...

 

 

Allen Guevara

Costa Rican footballer (born 1989) This biography of a living person needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately from the article and its talk page, especially if potentially libelous.Find sources: Allen Guevara – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (November 2010) (Learn how and when to remove this ...

 

 

Youri Djorkaeff

French association football player Youri Djorkaeff Djorkaeff in 2011Personal informationFull name Youri Raffi Djorkaeff[1]Date of birth (1968-03-09) 9 March 1968 (age 56)[2]Place of birth Lyon, FranceHeight 1.77 m (5 ft 10 in)[3]Position(s) Attacking midfielderForwardSenior career*Years Team Apps (Gls)1984–1989 Grenoble 82 (23)1989–1990 Strasbourg 35 (25)1990–1995 Monaco 155 (59)1995–1996 Paris Saint-Germain 35 (13)1996–1999 Inter Milan 87...

飛魚高校生

飛魚高校生Swimming Battle类型華人電視劇、偶像劇导演吳蒙恩主演 王傳一、魏蔓張雁名、袁詠琳、蔡昌憲 配音立體聲制作国家／地区 臺灣语言主要：國語次要：英語、台語标语“今年夏天最泳敢！”集数18集30集（一小時版）（含廣告）每集长度90分鐘（含廣告）片头曲周湯豪《帥到分手》片尾曲田馥甄《餘波盪漾》制作拍攝地點 臺灣机位多機位模式制作公司 大川大立數位影...

 

 

道格拉斯·麦克阿瑟

五星上將道格拉斯·麥克阿瑟Douglas MacArthur陸軍元帥1945年留影於菲律賓馬尼拉的麥克阿瑟將軍，嘴裡叼着玉米芯煙斗是其著名形象琉球列島民政長官任期1950年12月15日—1951年4月11日 前任職位設立继任馬修·李奇威 第1任聯合國軍總司令任期1950年7月7日—1951年4月11日 总统哈瑞·S·杜魯門前任職位設立继任馬修·李奇威 第1任遠東司令部（英语：Far East Command (United States)）司令任�...

 

 

Benjaminville, Illinois

The village of Benjaminville, Illinois, was founded in McLean County, Illinois, United States during the 1850s by Quaker farmers, who, like many others who came to Illinois, were looking to take advantage of the rich prairie soil. The town's settlement centered on the Society of Friends and the meeting house that was first constructed there in 1859. The town was rendered a ghost town after 1870 when the expected Lake Erie Railroad did not come into town. Today the unincorporated community of...

European colonisation of Southeast Asia

European colonisation of Southeast Asia   Portuguese Timor   Spanish East Indies   Dutch East Indies   French Indochina   British Burma, Malaysia, and Borneo  Siam (Thailand) The first phase of European colonisation of Southeast Asia took place throughout the 16th and 17th centuries. Where new European powers competing to gain monopoly over the spice trade, as this trade was very valuable to the Europeans due to high demand for vari...

 

 

Sotalia guianensis

Questa voce o sezione sull'argomento mammiferi non cita le fonti necessarie o quelle presenti sono insufficienti. Puoi migliorare questa voce aggiungendo citazioni da fonti attendibili secondo le linee guida sull'uso delle fonti. Segui i suggerimenti del progetto di riferimento. Come leggere il tassoboxSotalia marinaSotalia guianensisStato di conservazioneProssimo alla minaccia (nt) Classificazione scientificaDominioEukaryota RegnoAnimalia PhylumChordata ClasseMammalia OrdineCetacea Fam...

 

 

Gana (Pologne)

Pour les articles homonymes, voir Gana. Cet article est une ébauche concernant une localité polonaise. Vous pouvez partager vos connaissances en l’améliorant (comment ?) selon les recommandations des projets correspondants. GanaNom officiel (pl) GanaNom local (pl) GanaGéographiePays  PologneVoïvodie voïvodie d'OpolePowiat OlesnoGmina urbaine-rurale PraszkaCoordonnées 51° 04′ 10″ N, 18° 31′ 51″ EDémographiePopulation 529 ha...

Yusufzai

Pashtun tribe For other uses, see Yusufzai (disambiguation). YūsufzaiايسپزیDepiction of a Yusufzai warriorEthnicityPashtunLocationAfghanistan, Pakistan (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa)Parent tribeSarbaniBranchesMandanr, Iliaszai, Akozai, Mandan, Isazai, MalizaiLanguagePashtoReligion Islam The Yusufzai or Yousafzai (Pashto: یوسفزی, pronounced [jusəpˈzai]1), also referred to as the Esapzai (ايسپزی, pronounced [iːsəpˈzai]), or Yusufzai Afghans historically, are one of...

 

 

Thiruverumbur Assembly constituency

One of the 234 State Legislative Assembly Constituencies in Tamil Nadu in India 10°47′15″N 78°46′35″E / 10.78750°N 78.77639°E / 10.78750; 78.77639 ThiruverumburConstituency No. 142 for the Tamil Nadu Legislative AssemblyConstituency detailsCountryIndiaRegionSouth IndiaStateTamil NaduDistrictTiruchirappalliLS constituencyTiruchirappalliEstablished1971Total electors2,93,003[1]ReservationNoneMember of Legislative Assembly16th Tamil Nadu Legislative Ass...