Indian Airlines

Few minutes after takeoff from Silchar Airport, the crew encountered bad weather. The aircraft went out of control and crashed near the village of Santoshpur. A crewman was killed while two other occupants were injured. It appears the accident occurred in poor weather conditions with thunderstorm activity, turbulences and downdrafts.

VT-CFB took off from Safdarjung Airport at approximately 0832LT on a training flight. At 0839 it reported as being 20 miles north of Safdarjung Airport and at 5 000 ft. There was no further radiotelephony contact with the aircraft. At approximately 0915 hours it crashed 10 miles north of Safdarjung Airport and was destroyed by impact and fire. Both occupants were killed as were three inmates of a hut in the labour colony where the crash occurred.

On approach to Agartala Airport, the crew encountered poor weather conditions and the pilot-in-command decided to make a go around. A second attempt to land was abandoned few minutes later. Despite the fact that weather conditions were below minima, the crew started a third attempt to land. On final, as the pilot-in-command was unable to locate the runway, he decided to make a new go around when the aircraft struck trees and crashed in flames few km short of runway. The aircraft was destroyed by impact forces and a post crash fire and all three crew members were killed.

The aircraft landed hard and bounced several times on landing, causing the undercarriage to be sheared off. The aircraft came to rest and was damaged beyond repair and all 19 occupants escaped uninjured.

The landing at Kathmandu-Tribhuvan was completed at an excessive speed. On touchdown, the aircraft bounced several times before landing firmly. After few dozen yards, the pilot-in-command added power in an attempt to go around when the airplane overran and crashed into a ravine. Nineteen occupants were injured while 14 others plus one person on the ground were killed.

On touchdown at Tezpur-Salonibari Airport, the airplane bounced several times, causing the right wing to struck the runway surface. Out of control, the airplane veered off runway and crashed. Both pilots were killed while all other occupants were injured. The aircraft was damaged beyond repair.

The aircraft departed Nagpur Airport runway 09 at 0348LT on a flight to New Delhi. Two minutes later, while climbing at low height, the pilot-in-command attempted a steep turn to the left when the aircraft stalled and crashed in a huge explosion in an open field located 5,650 feet from the runway end. The aircraft was destroyed by impact forces and a post crash fire and all ten occupants were killed.

The aircraft took off from Calcutta-Dum Dum Airport on a scheduled freighter service flight at 0546 hours Indian Standard Time and set course for Guwahati, carrying a crew of three. At 0722 hours, the aircraft contacted Air Traffic Control, Guwahati, on radio telephony and reported flying under visual flight rules, 25 miles away from Guwahati Airport at an altitude of 6 000 feet. The Air Traffic Control Officer on duty passed the altimeter setting to the aircraft, cleared it to descend under VFR and instructed it to call when ten miles from the airport. The aircraft asked for a bearing on frequency 119.7 (Homer) at 0725 hours and a bearing of 045° class 'A' was given. This was confirmed as correct by the aircraft, which also reported being 15 miles from the airport at a height of 3 000 feet at that time. The next contact with Guwahati Tower was at 0727 hours when it reported being at a distance of 10 miles from the airport. Landing instructions were passed to the aircraft and it was asked to call again on joining circuit. There was no further communication with the aircraft. At approximately 0729 the duty officer at the tower noticed black smoke at the top of a patch of fog to the south of the airport. Repeated calls were made to the aircraft on 118.1 Mc/S and 6 440 Kc/S but no response was received. At about the same time persons in Tarapati village saw the aircraft hit some arecanut trees, crash in a field and burst into flames. The captain and the copilot died instantly and the radio officer died en route to the hospital. The aircraft was destroyed.

The crew was completing a local test flight out from New Delhi-Safdarjung Airport, a mission that was part of the official investigations from the Indian Civil Aviation Authorities following the crash of a C-47 at Nagpur on 12 December 1953. On approach to Safdarjung Airport, the aircraft went out of control and crashed in the district of Jammu Bridge, near the airfield. While nobody on the ground was injured, all three crew members were killed.

The aircraft started its take-off run and became airborne in the normal manner somewhere near the intersection of runways 27 and 33. The captain of another aircraft who had moved to the beginning of runway 27 for his turn for take off, watched the take-off of the aircraft and noticed that it became airborne normally but swung to the left when at a height of about 10 or 15 feet. It then climbed steeply on a straight course until it had well passed the end of the runway, and reached a height of about 100 to 150 feet. Thereafter it turned sharply to the left, lost height and crashed in a field located 4,000 feet from the runway. All 10 passengers and three crew members were killed. The captain Desmond Arthur James Cartner was the only survivor.