New Delhi, June 12 (UNI) A UK bound Air India Boeing with 242 people on board that crashed near Ahmedabad airport on Thursday afternoon, has brought back sordid memories of plane mishap tragedies.
The most important was the one on January 24, 1966, in which the father of India's nuclear programme Dr Homi Jehangir Bhabha was killed. Dr Bhabha was on board Air India Flight 101, a Boeing, when it crashed near Mont Blanc in a controlled flight terrain while trying to land at Geneva Airport. All 106 passengers, including Dr Bhabha, and 11 crew members died in the crash.
A misunderstanding between Geneva Airport ATC and the pilots about the aircraft position near the mountain was said to be the official reason of the crash.
On January 1, 1978, Boeing 747 of Air India Flight 855 crashed into the Arabian Sea after takeoff
from Mumbai. All 213 people on board were killed. The aircraft was bound for Dubai but lost control due to instrument failure combined with pilot disorientation.
On June 21, 1982, Air India Flight 403 crashed at Bombay airport. Seventeen people were killed.
On May 22, 2010, Air India Express Flight 812 overshot the runway at Mangalore and plunged into a gorge. The aircraft was bound for Dubai but lost control due to instrument failure resulting in 158 deaths.
On August 7, 2020, Air India Express Flight 1344 from Dubai skidded off the runway at Kozhikode Airport during heavy rain. The aircraft broke into pieces. Twenty-one people on board were killed.
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