CleanupBot II at 17:38, 13 August 2023

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{{Short description|1978 aviation accident}}
{{More footnotes|date=April 2021}}
{{lead|date=April 2021}}
{{EngvarB|date=March 2018}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2014}}
{{Infobox aircraft occurrence
| image = Boeing 747-237B, Air-India AN0574902.jpg
| image_upright =
| alt =
| caption = VT-EBD, the aircraft involved, on New Year's Day 1976, exactly two years before the accident.
| date = {{Start date|1978|01|1|df=y}}
| type = Instrument malfunction, leading to a loss of [[situation awareness]]; crashed into the [[Arabian Sea]]
| occurrence_type = Accident
| site = [[Arabian Sea]], near [[Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport|Santacruz Airport]], [[Mumbai|Bombay]], India
| coordinates = {{Coord|18.975|N|72.1592|E|type:event|display=inline,title}}
| aircraft_type = [[Boeing 747|Boeing 747-237B]]
| aircraft_name = ''[[Ashoka|Emperor Ashoka]]''
| operator = [[Air India]]
| tail_number = VT-EBD
| origin = [[Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport|Santacruz Airport]]<br />Bombay, India
| stopover =
| stopover0 =
| last_stopover =
| destination = [[Dubai International Airport]]<br />[[Dubai]], United Arab Emirates
| occupants = 213
| passengers = 190
| crew = 23
| fatalities = 213
| injuries =
| missing =
| survivors = 0
}}

'''Air India Flight 855''' was a scheduled passenger flight that crashed during the evening of New Year's Day 1978 about {{convert|3|km|mi nmi|abbr=on}} off the coast of [[Bandra]], Bombay (now [[Mumbai]]). All 213 passengers and crew on board were killed. An investigation into the crash determined the most likely probable cause was the captain becoming [[Spatial disorientation|spatially disoriented]] after the failure of one of the [[flight instruments]] in the cockpit. It was Air India's deadliest aircraft crash until the bombing of [[Air India Flight 182|Flight 182]] in 1985. It was also the deadliest aviation accident in India until the [[Charkhi Dadri mid-air collision]] in 1996. {{as of|2021||df=}}, Flight 855 is still the second deadliest aircraft crash in both of these categories.<ref name="ASN">{{ASN accident|title=VT-EBD |id=19780101-1 }}</ref><ref>{{ASN accident|title=HZ-AIH |id=19961112-0 }}</ref>

==Aircraft and crew==
The aircraft involved was a [[Boeing 747|Boeing 747-237B]],<ref group="note">The aircraft was a Boeing 747-200B model; Boeing assigns a unique code for each company that buys one of its aircraft, which is applied as an [[infix]] to the model number at the time the aircraft is built, hence "747-237B" for a Boeing 747-200B built for Air India.</ref> [[Aircraft registration|registration]] {{Airreg|VT|EBD|,}} named ''[[Ashoka|Emperor Ashoka]]''. It was the first 747 delivered to [[Air India]], in April 1971.<ref name="planespotters">{{Cite web|title=VT-EBD Air India Boeing 747-200|url=https://www.planespotters.net/airframe/boeing-747-vt-ebd-air-india/eljpzr|website=www.planespotters.net|language=en|access-date=2020-05-25}}</ref><ref name="airfleets">{{Cite web|title=Air India VT-EBD (Boeing 747 - MSN 19959)|url=https://www.airfleets.net/ficheapp/plane-b747-19959.htm|website=www.airfleets.net|publisher=Airfleets aviation|access-date=2020-05-25}}</ref>

The flight crew consisted of the following persons:
* The [[Captain (aeronautical)|captain]] was 51-year old Madan Lal Kukar. He had joined Air India in 1956, and was experienced, having almost 18,000 flight hours.<ref name="issuu"/>
* The [[First officer (aeronautics)|first officer]] was 43-year-old Indu Virmani, a former [[Indian Air Force]] commander who joined Air India in 1976. He had more than 4,500 flight hours.<ref name="issuu"/>
* The [[flight engineer]] was 53-year-old Alfredo Faria, who joined Air India in 1955 and had 11,000 flight hours, making him one of Air India's most senior flight engineers at the time of the accident.<ref name="issuu">{{Cite news|date=2017-04-08|title=Bandra needs to remember 40 years of the 'Bandstand Air Crash'|work=Issuu|url=https://issuu.com/bandrabuzz/docs/april2017/8|access-date=2018-04-30}}</ref>

== Sequence of events ==
The aircraft departed from Bombay's Santa Cruz Airport (later Sahar Airport, now called [[Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport]]). The destination was [[Dubai International Airport]] in [[Dubai]].<ref name="ASN" /><ref name="history">{{Cite news|title=Air India jet crashes just after takeoff|work=HISTORY.com|url=http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/air-india-jet-crashes-just-after-takeoff|url-status=dead|access-date=2018-03-03|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180304172649/http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/air-india-jet-crashes-just-after-takeoff|archive-date=2018-03-04}}</ref>

Approximately one minute after takeoff from runway 27, Captain Kukar made a scheduled right turn upon crossing the Bombay coastline over the [[Arabian Sea]], after which the aircraft briefly returned to a normal level position. Soon it began rolling to the left, and never regained level flight.<ref name="TWP">{{Cite news|date=1978-01-02|title=213 Feared Dead as Jet Hits Sea Off Bombay|work=The Washington Post|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1978/01/02/213-feared-dead-as-jet-hits-sea-off-bombay/e9015d7d-0b8e-4f2e-b96d-858c1eb785aa/|access-date=2020-11-11|issn=0190-8286}}</ref><ref name="UPI">{{Cite news|date=1978-01-02|title=India jet disintegrates, 213 dead|work=United Press International|url=https://www.upi.com/Archives/1978/01/02/India-jet-disintegrates-213-dead/2251546203054/|access-date=2020-11-11}}</ref>

The [[cockpit voice recorder]] recovered from the wreckage revealed that Captain Kukar was the first to notice a problem, when he said, "What's happened here, my instruments ..." The captain was explaining that his [[attitude indicator]] (AI) had "toppled", meaning that it was still showing the aircraft in a right bank. First Officer Virmani, whose presumably functional AI was now showing a left bank (and not noticing the captain's concern), said, "Mine has also toppled, looks fine." It is believed that the Captain mistakenly took this to mean that both primary AIs were indicating a right bank, in effect confirming what he believed he was seeing. It was after sunset and the aircraft was flying over a dark Arabian Sea, leaving the aircrew unable to visually cross-check their AI instrument readings with the actual horizon outside the cockpit windows.<ref name="ASN" /><ref name="baaa-acro">{{Cite web|title=Crash of a Boeing 747-237B off Mumbai: 213 killed|url=https://baaa-acro.com/crash/crash-boeing-747-237b-mumbai-213-killed|url-status=live|access-date=2021-07-04|website=baaa-acro.com|publisher=Bureau of Aircraft Accidents Archives}}</ref>{{Additional citation needed|date=July 2021}}

The Boeing 747 had a third backup AI in the center instrument panel between the two pilots, and the transcripts of the cockpit conversation showed Flight Engineer Faria telling the captain, "Don't go by that one, don't go by that one..." trying to direct his attention towards that third AI, or perhaps to another instrument called the [[turn and bank indicator]], just five seconds before the aircraft impacted the sea.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Witkin|first=Richard|date=1982-06-30|title=FAULTY INSTRUMENT BLAMED FOR '78 AIR INDIA CRASH (Published 1982)|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1982/06/30/us/faulty-instrument-blamed-for-78-air-india-crash.html|access-date=2020-11-11|issn=0362-4331}}</ref>

The captain's mistaken perception of the aircraft's attitude resulted in him using the [[aircraft flight control system]] to add more left bank and left rudder, causing the Boeing 747 to roll further left into a bank of 108 degrees and rapidly lose altitude. Just 101 seconds after leaving the runway, the jet hit the Arabian Sea at an estimated 35-degree nose-down angle. There were no survivors among the 190 passengers and 23 crew members.<ref name="ASN" /><ref>{{Cite web|date=2017-07-09|title=Spine Chilling Story Of The Air India Flight That Crashed Within Minutes Of Take Off|url=https://procaffenation.com/spine-chilling-story-air-india-flight-crashed-within-minutes-take-off/|access-date=2020-11-11|website=Procaffenation}}</ref>

== Probable cause ==
The partially recovered wreckage revealed no evidence of explosion, fire, or any electrical or mechanical failure; and an initial theory of sabotage was ruled out.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Johari|first=Aarefa|title=New Year's Day tragedy: A Mumbai resident's quest to mark the Emperor Ashoka air crash, 40 years on|url=https://scroll.in/magazine/863321/new-years-day-tragedy-why-a-mumbai-resident-wants-to-mark-40-years-of-the-emperor-ashoka-air-crash|access-date=2020-11-11|website=Scroll.in}}</ref>

The investigation concluded that the probable cause was "due to the irrational control inputs by the captain following complete unawareness of the attitude as his AI had malfunctioned. The crew failed to gain control based on the other flight instruments."<ref name="MAC">{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Qd1asDME2LEC&q=air+india+flight+855+The+crew+failed+to+gain+control+based+on+the+other+flight+instruments.&pg=PA19|title=The MAC Flyer|date=1980|publisher=The Command|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|title=Air-India Boeing 747 crash leaves 213 passengers dead, foul play suspected|url=https://www.indiatoday.in/magazine/indiascope/story/19780131-air-india-boeing-747-crash-leaves-213-passengers-dead-foul-play-suspected-822810-2014-10-10|last=Santhanam|first=Raju|work=India Today|access-date=2020-05-25}}</ref>{{failed verification|while the content is OK, the exact quote seems not to be in the sources|date=April 2020}}

US Federal District Judge James M. Fitzgerald, in a 139-page decision issued 1 November 1985, rejected charges of negligence against the [[Boeing Company]], [[Lear Siegler]] Inc, the manufacturer of the attitude director indicator, and the [[Rockwell Collins|Collins Radio division of Rockwell International]], which manufactured the backup system in a suit related to the crash. Steven C. Marshall, the attorney for Boeing asserted that the crash had been caused by Captain Madan Kukar, who he said was "flying illegally under the influence of diabetic drugs, a condition compounded by his alcoholic intake and dieting in the 24 hours before the flight," and not due to equipment malfunctions. The suit was dismissed in 1986.<ref name="history" /><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1985/04/21/us/theory-on-air-india-crash-backed-by-a-pilot.html|title=Theory on Air India Crash Backed by a Pilot|date=1985-04-21|work=The New York Times|issn=0362-4331}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|last=Witkin|first=Richard|date=1985-11-01|title=JUDGE CLEARS BOEING IN CRASH THAT KILLED 213 (Published 1985)|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1985/11/01/us/judge-clears-boeing-in-crash-that-killed-213.html|access-date=2020-11-11|issn=0362-4331}}</ref>

== See also ==

*[[Sensory illusions in aviation]]
*[[John F. Kennedy, Jr., plane crash]]
*Other aircraft that crashed shortly after takeoff, while turning above a dark ocean:
**[[Pan Am Flight 816]]
**[[Flash Airlines Flight 604]]
**[[Viasa Flight 897]]
*Other aircraft that crashed due to instrument malfunction:
**[[Korean Air Cargo Flight 8509]]
**[[Copa Airlines Flight 201]]
**[[Indonesia AirAsia Flight 8501]]
**[[Birgenair Flight 301]]
**[[Aeroperú Flight 603]]
**[[Adam Air Flight 574]]
**[[Air France Flight 447]]
**[[West Air Sweden Flight 294]]

==Notes==
{{reflist|group=note}}

== References ==
{{reflist}}

==Further reading==
* {{cite book |last=Langewiesche |first=William |author-link=William_Langewiesche |title=Inside the Sky: A Meditation on Flight |year=1998 |publisher=Pantheon Books |location=USA |isbn=0-679-42983-2 |chapter=Chapter Four: On A Bombay Night |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/insideskymedita00lang }}

== External links ==
*
* [http://www.aero.ca/News1_96.html Design Induced Errors], which includes a discussion of the crash. ([https://web.archive.org/web/20060829223900/http://www.aero.ca/News1_96.html Archive])
*[https://www.airliners.net/search?keywords=VT-EBD&sortBy=dateAccepted&sortOrder=desc&perPage=36&display=detail Pre-crash photos of 747 VT-EBD at airliners.net]
{{Aviation accidents and incidents in India}}
{{Aviation accidents and incidents in 1978}}
{{Air India}}
<br />

[[Category:Airliner accidents and incidents caused by instrument failure]]
[[Category:Airliner accidents and incidents caused by pilot error]]
[[Category:Aviation accidents and incidents in India]]
[[Category:Aviation accidents and incidents in 1978]]
[[Category:Accidents and incidents involving the Boeing 747]]
[[Category:Air India accidents and incidents|855]]
[[Category:1978 in India]]
[[Category:History of Mumbai (1947–present)]]

Air India Flight 855 - Revision history

CleanupBot II at 17:38, 13 August 2023