Indian Airlines Flight 440 was a flight on 31 May 1973 that crashed while on approach to

Palam Airport Indira Gandhi International Airport is the primary international airport serving Delhi, the capital of India, and the National Capital Region (India), National Capital Region (NCR). The airport, spread over an area of , is situated in Palam, D ...

(now

Indira Gandhi International Airport Indira Gandhi International Airport is the primary international airport serving Delhi, the capital of India, and the National Capital Region (NCR). The airport, spread over an area of , is situated in Palam, Delhi, southwest of the New ...

) killing 48 of the 65 passengers and crew on board.

Accident

Flight 440 was a scheduled domestic passenger flight from Madras (now Chennai),

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a state in southern India. It is the tenth largest Indian state by area and the sixth largest by population. Its capital and largest city is Chennai. Tamil Nadu is the home of the Tamil people, whose Tamil language ...

to New Delhi. A Boeing 737 named ''Saranga'' was used for the flight. As Flight 440 approached

Palam International Airport Indira Gandhi International Airport is the primary international airport serving Delhi, the capital of India, and the National Capital Region (NCR). The airport, spread over an area of , is situated in Palam, Delhi, southwest of the New Delh ...

in driving dust and a rainstorm, the aircraft struck high tension wires during a

NDB approach A non-directional beacon (NDB) or non-directional radio beacon is a radio beacon which does not include directional information. Radio beacons are radio transmitters at a known location, used as an aviation or marine navigational aid. NDB are ...

with visibility below minimal. The aircraft crashed and caught fire. 48 of the 65 passengers and crew on board Flight 440 perished in the accident. Rescue officials said the survivors were in the front of the aircraft,Indian crash site probed by crews
" ''

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. ne ...

'' (AP) at the ''

Spokane Daily Chronicle The ''Spokane Daily Chronicle'' is a daily digital newspaper in Spokane, Washington. It was founded as a weekly paper in 1881 and grew into an afternoon daily, competing with ''The Spokesman-Review'', which was formed from the merger of two comp ...

''. Friday 1 June 1973. p. 11. Retrieved from Google News (63/72) on 28 November 2014. although one survivor reported sitting in the back row. The survivors included three Americans and two Japanese. The dead included four Americans, three people from the United Kingdom, and one woman from Yemen. Among the dead was Indian Minister of Iron and Steel Mines,

Mohan Kumaramangalam Surendra Mohan Kumaramangalam ( ta, சுரேந்திர மோகன் குமாரமங்கலம்) (1 November 1916 — 30 May 1973) was an Indian politician and communist theorist who was a member of the Communist Party of I ...

Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha A Member of Parliament in the Lok Sabha ( abbreviated: MP) is the representative of a legislative constituency in the Lok Sabha; the lower house of the Parliament of India. Members of parliament of Lok Sabha are chosen by direct elections on ...

and Communist Party of India politician K. Baladhandayutham and former

Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha A Member of Parliament in the Rajya Sabha ( abbreviated: MP) is the representative of the Indian states to the one of the two houses of the Parliament of India (Rajya Sabha). Rajya Sabha MPs are elected by the electoral college of the elect ...

and

Indian National Congress The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party but often simply the Congress, is a political party in India with widespread roots. Founded in 1885, it was the first modern nationalist movement to emerge in the British E ...

politician

Devaki Gopidas Devaki Gopidas (1918-1973) was an Indian politician from Kerala. She was a Member of Parliament, representing Kerala in the Rajya Sabha the upper house of India's Parliament as a member of the Indian National Congress from 1962 - 1968. She was ...

and businessman Raghunath Kakani Reddy.

Cause

Investigators determined the Indian Airlines Flight 440 crash was caused by the crew descending below the minimum decision height.

References

External links

Indian Airlines Flight 440 at Planecrashinfo.com
{{Aviation accidents and incidents in 1973 1973 in India Aviation accidents and incidents in 1973 Airliner accidents and incidents caused by pilot error Airliner accidents and incidents caused by weather Aviation accidents and incidents in India Accidents and incidents involving the Boeing 737 Original

440 Year 440 (CDXL) was a leap year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Valentinianus and Anatolius (or, less frequently, year 1193 ''Ab urbe ...

May 1973 events in Asia

Accident

Cause

See also

References

External links