Air India Flight 101
An Air India Boeing 707 similar to the one involved
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| Accident summary | |
|---|---|
| Date | 24 January 1966 |
| Summary | Controlled flight into terrain |
| Site | Mont Blanc massif, France |
| Passengers | 106 |
| Crew | 11 |
| Fatalities | 117 (all) |
| Survivors | 0 |
| Aircraft type | Boeing 707–437 |
| Aircraft name | Kanchenjunga |
| Operator | Air India |
| Registration | VT-DMN |
| Flight origin | Sahar International Airport, Bombay, India |
| 1st stopover | Delhi International Airport, New Delhi, India |
| 2nd stopover | Beirut International Airport, Beirut, Lebanon |
| Last stopover | Geneva International Airport, Geneva, Switzerland |
| Destination | Heathrow Airport, London, United Kingdom |
Air India Flight 101 was a scheduled Air India passenger flight from Bombay to London that accidentally flew into Mont Blanc in France on the morning of 24 January 1966. The accident was caused by a misunderstood verbal instruction from the radar controller to the pilot in lieu of VOR data, one of the receivers being out of service.
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. After leaving Bombay, it had made two scheduled stops at Delhi and Beirut and was en route to another stop at Geneva. At Flight Level 190, the crew was instructed to descend for Geneva International Airport after the aircraft had passed Mont Blanc. The pilot, thinking that he had passed Mont Blanc, started to descend and flew into the Mont Blanc massif in France near the Rochers de la Tournette, at an elevation of 4,750 metres (15,584 ft). All 106 passengers and 11 crew were killed.
Among the 106 passengers who perished were:
The Boeing 707–437 VT-DMN had first flown on 5 April 1961 and was delivered new to Air India on 25 May 1961. It had flown a total of 16,188 hours.
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.
The investigation concluded:
a) The pilot-in-command, who knew on leaving Beirut that one of the VORs was unserviceable, miscalculated his position in relation to Mont Blanc and reported his own estimate of this position to the controller; the radar controller noted the error, determined the position of the aircraft correctly and passed a communication to the aircraft which, he believed, would enable it to correct its position.
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