Air India Flight 245

Air India Flight 245

A Lockheed L-749A Constellation similar to the accident aircraft.
Accident summary
Date 3 November 1950
Summary Controlled Flight into Terrain (CFIT) in poor weather
Site Mont Blanc
Passengers 40
Crew 8
Injuries (non-fatal) 0
Fatalities 48
Survivors 0
Aircraft type Lockheed L-749A Constellation
Operator Air India
Registration VT-CQP
Flight origin Bombay
Stopover Cairo
1st stopover Geneva
Destination London

Air India Flight 245 was a scheduled Air India passenger flight that crashed into Mont Blanc, France, on 3 November 1950. On the morning of 3 November 1950, flown by the Lockheed L-749A Constellation Malabar Princess (registered VT-CQP), carried 40 passengers and 8 crew on the route Bombay-Cairo-Geneva-London. Over France, it crashed into Mont Blanc, killing all on board.[1][2][3]

The accident

The last transmission from the aircraft, received by controllers at Grenoble and Geneva, was "I am vertical with Voiron, at 4700 meters altitude." at 10:43 a.m.

The "Malabar Princess" hit the face of the Rochers de la Tournette 4,677 m (15,344 ft) on the French side of Mont Blanc.[2] Stormy weather prevented immediate rescue efforts; debris was located by a Swiss plane on 5 November, rescue parties reached it another two days later.[2] There were no survivors.

Sixteen years later, Air India Flight 101 crashed in almost exactly the same spot.[4] In September 2013, a climber discovered a cache of jewellery that is speculated to have been aboard one of these two flights.[5]

Pop culture references

References

  1. "MALABAR PRINCESS". Retrieved 17 June 2009.
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 "The "Malabar Princess" Catastrophe". Archived from the original on 20 June 2009. Retrieved 17 June 2009.
  3. "Accident description". Aviation Safety. Retrieved 17 June 2009.
  4. Mendis, Sean (26 July 2004). "Air India : The story of the aircraft". Airwhiners.net. Retrieved 13 June 2013.
  5. Michael Pearson and Saskya Vandoorne (26 September 2013). "Mysterious cache of jewels turns up atop French glacier". CNN.
  6. "Malabar Princess". Family Education. Retrieved 17 June 2009.

Coordinates: 45°49′59″N 6°51′35″E / 45.83306°N 6.85972°E