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Air India Flight 101

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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.

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

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

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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

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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

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

Investigation

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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

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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

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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

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Notes

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  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

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