[thanixravindran]

Originally Posted by TKMCE

3) 26 April 1979 at Chennai

Registration: VT-ECR

Narrative: On its way from Trivandrum to Madras, the aircraft was cleared to descent from FL270. Shortly afterwards an explosion took place in the forward lavatory, causing a complete instrument and electrical failure.

The Boeing had to make a flapless landing at Madras (now Chennai). The aircraft touched down 2500 feet past the runway 25 threshold and overran. The right side of the plane caught fire.

Probable cause: "Detonation of an explosive device in the forward lavatory of the aircraft. The aircraft overshot the runway due to high speed of touchdown, non-availability of reverse thrust and anti-skid system due to systems failure consequent on explosion."

OT - Does anyone have any details of this incident? Is the explosion a bombing? I have never heard about this. Unrelated, I know of the bombing of Meenambakkam airport in 1984 at the peak of SL Tamil conflict.

[skanchan95]

Originally Posted by TKMCE

Registration:VT-EAM

The Boeing 737 named "Saranga"

Interestingly VT-EAM was the only "named" 737 in the IC fleet. It had the aircraft name (Saranga) painted on both sides of the fuselage.



To begin with these 737-200s had these lovely metallic mirror finish on the undersides


which was later changed to non-reflective grey

[Sensible_Speed]

I vividly remember reading about an Indian Airlines/Air India A320 crashing into the golf course on approach to the HAL Airport back in 1990. Was that the sole A320 loss?

[amol4184]

Originally Posted by TKMCE

26 April 1993 at Aurangabad

We lived in Ahmednagar back then (and still do) while my father was a state employee. He was posted in Aurangabad division for work around Sukhna dam for 3 years. This crash happened in his last year of tenure before he was transferred out. He saw many incidences in his life as an on-site, hands on person but nothing more incredulous than this.

He saw the crash site (on the same day in the evening), airplane parts, debris, broken and burnt tress, that truck and the whole thing later became a local legend.

It was the time when general public still looked at planes in total awe, something they couldn't even imagine flying on one day. So when a plane came down to earth, it was a frenzy.
Some of the labor that worked on dam maintenance and canals managed to bring pieces of alloy from the crashed plane and would keep them as a trophy. Apparently the pieces were littered over miles and many escaped the authorities. I wouldn't be surprised if people in the area still have debris from the crash.

My father would recall that incident often. A completely surreal story.
Everything about the incident is incredibly unbelievable. Everyone acted like a spoilt brat who has been handed over an expensive toy with absolutely no idea on how to handle one.

I was a just a kid and never looked into what caused the accident. Years went by until today when I read your post and went down the rabbit hole. Thanks for writing this excellent thread and jogging my memory.

[V.Narayan]

Just some random observations of these 737-200s which for 20 years {~early 1970s to early 1990s} were the backbone of civil aviation in India.

The 737-200 were designed for a 120 seat layout with a comfortable 32-inch seat pitch. Indian Airlines had set the pitch at 30 inches to accommodate 132 passengers. Always a squeeze. Then we had no choice.

On another matter altogether - the crashes were not a result of poorer or incomplete training but instead a function of poor cockpit crew resource management {i.e. team work and candid exchange} and poor implementation of cockpit procedures by the quality control teams. India's feudal culture seeped into the cockpit where Captain's were beyond question. Things have IMHO improved a great deal in our skies. The younger generation of flight crew especially in Indigo, Vistara are of a different and way better genre where ego in the cockpit is concerned. I'm not commenting on the revived Air India yet due to lack of direct knowledge but going by Air India incidents* in the last 2 years in some quarters at least the old zamindar sahib attitude is still alive.

Given the way passengers got treated by the old Indian Airlines, prior to 1991, we are light years better today. I do not have a count of the number of times I observed Indian Airlines staff, prior to 1991, yelling at passengers at the check-in counter or during the boarding process. And as soon as these private carriers started operating there was an almost overnight change in behaviour for the better by Indian Airlines. Sadly, some employees at Indigo are working hard to bring back that yelling culture!!

* the lady pax being urinated upon and cabin crew not being able to get the Captain to wake up or take a decision + the case of girlfriend and pillows in the cockpit

----------------------- ----------------------- -----------------------

Originally Posted by TKMCE

Aircraft was most probably overloaded to some extent, there was a payload restriction as with the then available runway length at Aurangabad you could not take off with a full load of passengers, there was pressure on the captain to accept more passengers than ideal, especially a senior captain and his family, and the flight crew were uneasy with what was happening as seen in the CVR transcript.

Hopefully these kinds of incidents are now relegated to our not so flattering past. Thank you, TKMCE, for putting it out here. "Accommodating" VIPs was quite the norm with IA of old and there was no protection in the system or the national PSU culture if a honest professional stood his ground. Overloaded, only 7500 feet of runway, high summer temperatures and the power to weight ratios we had then in all narrow body airliners were all leading up to this tragedy. Aircraft today have significantly higher power to weight ratios.

[subramak]

I don't know if IC had more accidents than other leading airlines in the world per plane. Aviation safety has improved a lot since 1980s thanks to lot of efforts. Trying to paint Indian airlines in bad light does not seem to make sense to me.

[TKMCE]

Originally Posted by subramak

I don't know if IC had more accidents than other leading airlines in the world per plane. Aviation safety has improved a lot since 1980s thanks to lot of efforts. Trying to paint Indian airlines in bad light does not seem to make sense to me.

There is no painting anyone in bad light. Suggest you read my initial post and also comments from VNarayan and Jeroen a little more carefully before you come to such a conclusion.

Writing off more than 20% of your 737 fleet is not a great record for any airline, particularly when the investigators conclude that most of them were due to poor airmanship. During the period from mid 1980s till mid 1990s, Indian Airlines had a pathetic safety record but passengers had no choice but to fly them domestically because it was more or less a monopoly.

Facts may be brushed under the carpet but cannot remain hidden for ever. The classic case was the crash at Aurangabad where the full report surfaced in the public domain long after the accident. Please read it and after that if you still maintain, Indian Airlines was a safe airline those days, then I have no more comments.

[itwasntme]

Originally Posted by TKMCE

6) 26 April 1993 at Aurangabad

The 2018 Trichy incident could have so easily resulted in another Aurangabad-style total hull loss.

https://www.key.aero/article/air-ind...-seat-reclines
https://www.businesstoday.in/industr...978-2018-10-12

[V.Narayan]

Originally Posted by subramak

I don't know if IC had more accidents than other leading airlines in the world per plane. Aviation safety has improved a lot since 1980s thanks to lot of efforts. Trying to paint Indian airlines in bad light does not seem to make sense to me.

@subramak, permit me to weigh in. TKCME is not painting Indian Airlines in a bad light. He is simply tabling the real report card.

Dear Readers,

In the aviation industry world wide these very high standards of safety and reliability have been achieved only because as an industry we look into the mirror with no if's and but's and digest the bitter truth of what went wrong, where did we fail, what can be do better, what processes need to be improved etc. Our approach may seem to the "chalta hai/brush it under the carpet" crowd as fault finding or reputation destroying but it is a proven way to save lives in the future and it works.

Sadly, our DGCA is still far from world standards.

[r_nairtvm]

Originally Posted by skanchan95

Interestingly VT-EAM was the only "named" 737 in the IC fleet. It had the aircraft name (Saranga) painted on both sides of the fuselage.
Attachment 2620954

SK

Don't think its entirely correct. All aircrafts of IA had names.

The first Boeing 737 flight (Commercial flight) by IA to Trivandrum was named "Mayura". It had its name written on both sides. It was on 1969 - It was a daily flight and I travelled in the same aircraft sometime in 1970.

Even the proving flight was done by the same aircraft. As a 10 year old I was an avid collector or Aircraft pictures.

Unfortunately that collection is gone - otherwise I would've traced the Registration as well.

Also I have travelled in Sarang as well.

Best Regards & Thanks

[NiInJa]

I was born in 1987, the first flight I took was in 2012 from Pune to Bengaluru

Even before that flight, I did a google search on flight safety knowing very well that it is one of the safest mode of transportation.

Can any senior bhpian describe how it would feel flying in the 70s and 80s (in Indian context) ?
Was there an element of fear back then ?

[TKMCE]

Originally Posted by itwasntme

The 2018 Trichy incident could have so easily resulted in another Aurangabad-style total hull loss.

https://www.key.aero/article/air-ind...-seat-reclines
https://www.businesstoday.in/industr...978-2018-10-12

This Air India Express 737 accident had an interesting contributory factor....which was revealed only once the final report was released.

From the synopsis in the "Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau" final report available in their website.

****
During the take-off roll at 1949 UTC, the PIC seat recline mechanism failed causing the seat
back to recline at a speed of 117 knots. The PIC was unsettled and handed over the controls to Copilot. The throttle levers and control column moved back inadvertently as the seat reclined. The
PIC subsequently adjusted his seat and took back control from the co-pilot and the take off was
continued. Neither crew member noticed the reduction of thrust
*****

Failure of the seat recline mechanism during take off roll is not something a pilot expects as routine!

The full report is here

https://aaib.gov.in/Reports/2018/Acc...t%20VT-AYD.pdf

Originally Posted by thanixravindran

OT - Does anyone have any details of this incident? Is the explosion a bombing? I have never heard about this. Unrelated, I know of the bombing of Meenambakkam airport in 1984 at the peak of SL Tamil conflict.

Details are very hard to come by but this is very briefly described in

'Aircraft hijackings and other criminal acts against civil aviation : statistics and narrative reports / FAA" a publication of the US government.

[itwasntme]

Originally Posted by TKMCE

Failure of the seat recline mechanism during take off roll is not something a pilot expects as routine!

Saw that! Another recent pilot seat incident on a LATAM Airlines Dreamliner:
https://apnews.com/article/boeing-wa...2a4df091fd6d21

The Wall Street Journal reported late Thursday that a flight attendant serving a meal in the cockpit hit a switch on the back of a seat that pushed the pilot into controls on the 787, pushing down the nose of the plane. The newspaper cited anonymous U.S. industry officials who were briefed on preliminary findings from the investigation.

[skanchan95]

Originally Posted by r_nairtvm

SK

Don't think its entirely correct. All aircrafts of IA had names.

The first Boeing 737 flight (Commercial flight) by IA to Trivandrum was named "Mayura". It had its name written on both sides. It was on 1969 - It was a daily flight and I travelled in the same aircraft sometime in 1970.

Thank you Sir for this invaluable piece of information. I stand corrected.

I have been relying on old pics of IC 737-200s to find out aircraft names and this I could only find this old photo of VT-EAM with Saranga titles. Relatively newer pics of IC 737-200s of various registrations did not have the aircraft name titles on them. By any chance would you know what was the aircraft registration of Mayura?

East West Airlines too had this practice of naming their aircraft - after major Indian cities. The "known" ones:
Boeing 737-200
VT-EWA "City of Cochin"
VT-EWC "City of Delhi"
VT-EWF "City of Madras"
VT-EWJ "City of Calcutta"

Fokker F.27
VT-EWE "City of Pune"