| Accident summary | |
|---|---|
| Date | 26 April 1993 |
| Type | Pilot error |
| Site | Aurangabad, Maharashtra, India |
| Passengers | 112 |
| Crew | 6 |
| Injuries | 63 |
| Fatalities | 55 |
| Survivors | 63 |
| Aircraft type | Boeing 737 2A8 |
| Operator | Indian Airlines |
Indian Airlines Flight 491 was the on its connecting route from Delhi to Bombay with en route stops at Jaipur, Udaipur and Aurangabad. The heavily laden aircraft started its takeoff from Aurangabad's runway 09 in hot and humid temperatures.
After lifting off almost at the end of the runway, it impacted heavily with a lorry on a highway at the end of runway. The left main landing gear, left engine bottom cowling and thrust reverser impacted the left side of the truck at a height of nearly seven feet from the level of the road. Thereafter the aircraft hit the high tension electric wires nearly 3 km North-East of the runway and hit the ground.
The probable cause of the crash was the "Pilots' error in initiating late rotation and following wrong rotation technique" and "failure of the NAA to regulate the mobile traffic on the highway during the flight hours".
There was speculation that the truck was actually on the runway and not outside on the road, but was subsequently clarified in the Lok Sabha.[1]
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