 VT-CQP, the aircraft involved in the accident, in 1949 | |
| Accident | |
|---|---|
| Date | 3 November 1950 (1950-11-03) |
| Summary | Controlled flight into terrain in poor weather |
| Site |
|
| Aircraft | |
| Aircraft type | Lockheed L-749A Constellation |
| Aircraft name | Malabar Princess |
| Operator | Air India |
| IATA flight No. | AI245 |
| ICAO flight No. | AIC245 |
| Call sign | AIRINDIA 245 |
| Registration | VT-CQP |
| Flight origin | Sahar International Airport,Bombay, India |
| 1st stopover | Cairo International Airport,Cairo, Egypt |
| 2nd stopover | Cointrin Airport,Geneva, Switzerland |
| Destination | LondonHeathrow Airport,London, United Kingdom |
| Occupants | 48 |
| Passengers | 40 |
| Crew | 8 |
| Fatalities | 48 |
| Survivors | 0 |
Air India Flight 245 was a scheduledAir Indiapassenger flight from Bombay to London via Cairo and Geneva. On the morning of 3 November 1950, theLockheed L-749A Constellation serving the flight crashed intoMont Blanc, France, while approaching Geneva. All 48 aboard were killed.
The plane operating the flight was namedMalabar Princess,registered as VT-CQP. It waspiloted byCaptain Alan R. Saint, 34, andco-pilot V. Y. Korgaokar and was carrying 40 passengers and 8 crew. The flight navigator was Raghuram Iyengar, a resident of Matunga, Mumbai. While over France, descending towardsGeneva Airport, the flight crashed into theFrench Alps in stormy weather, killing all on board.[1][2][3]
The airplane hit the face of theRocher de la Tournette at a height of 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, and rescue parties reached the site two days later.[2] There were no survivors. The last transmission from the aircraft, received bycontrollers atGrenoble and Geneva, was "I am vertical withVoiron, at 4700 meters altitude." at 10:43 a.m.
Some mail on board the flight was recovered after the accident and was annotated with "Retardé par suite d'accident aérien" ("delayed due to aviation accident"); further items of mail were found in 1951 and 1952.
On 8 June 1978, a patrol of the French mountain police found letters and a sack at the foot of theBossons Glacier. Recovered were 57 envelopes and 55 letters (without envelopes) and all but eight letters were forwarded to their original addressees.[4] Sixteen years after the accident,Air India Flight 101 crashed in almost exactly the same spot under similar circumstances.[5]
In 2008 one of the engines from the crashed flight was discovered. In September 2013, a climber discovered a cache of jewelry that is believed to have been aboard one of these two flights.[6]
45°49′59″N6°51′35″E / 45.83306°N 6.85972°E /45.83306; 6.85972