Revision as of 19:03, 27 July 2016

Bangalore crash :1990

The Times of India

Bangalore crash

REVISITING THE HORROR

Crash that shook Bangalore in 1990

Vinay Madhav | TNN

Bangalore: On a bright Valentine’s Day afternoon in 1990, an A-320 Boeing aircraft which had taken off from Mumbai at 11.58 am, started descending to HAL Airport in Bangalore. At 1.03 pm, the aircraft was on its final approach and descended well below the normal approach. It kept descending until it struck Karnataka Golf Club’s boundaries.

The aircraft, delivered to Indian Airlines in December 1989, was 2,300 ft short of the runway and 200 ft right of the extended centreline. It rolled for 80 feet and lifted off again for about 230 ft and came down on the golf course’s 17th green. The aircraft’s gears and engines sheared off as it continued to move before coming to a halt in nearby Challaghatta Lake’s marshy and rocky area.

It was Karnataka’s worst air crash and left 92 people dead, including four crew. Fifty-four passengers survived with injuries. The bodies were badly charred, forcing the police to go for a mass funeral.

One of the crash theories was that the pilot tried to use auto-landing system and misjudged the precise point of landing. Foreigners and VIPs, including three Birla family members, were among the victims and survivors. By the time rescuers reached the place, many survivors were walking away from the crash site.

Former IGP and then DCP, T Jayaprakash, who was at the airport to see off Bangalore police commissioner, recalls the harrowing day:

When we heard about the crash, the commissioner cancelled his Delhi meeting and without realising there was a wall separating the crash site and the airport, we set off on the runway. Once we hit the dead-end, we turned back and reached a jam-packed main road. Realising we would be stuck in the jam, we got out of the car and started walking. When we reached the site, we saw some survivors limping out of the water.

In 1990, wireless sets were the only means of communication and we roped in the entire Bangalore police force for the rescue. After moving the injured to hospitals, we recovered over 50 bodies and shifted them to Victoria H spital.

Since there were no facilities to preserve the bodies, the rule was that we couldn’t conduct post mortem till the relatives identified the bodies. Most relatives had to travel a long distance. By early next morning, the bodies started decomposing. We ordered for a large quantity of ice to help preserve the bodies. It helped for some time, but by afternoon, the ice melted and the bodies started swelling. By evening, we decided to have a mass funeral. We called for a priest, a maulvi and guru from the gurdwara. After a prayer for the departed souls, we held a mass funeral.

Cause: ‘failure of pilots to monitor speed’

Pilot error caused 1990 Bangalore air crash: report, The Hindu Bangalore, May 24, 2010

Even as the speculations are on about the cause for the crash of Air India Express IX-812 near Mangalore, an official of the Ministry of Civil Aviation has pointed out that “failure of pilots to monitor speed” had resulted in crash of Airbus 320 of Indian Airlines (IC-605/VT-EPN) near Bangalore's HAL Airport in 1990. In all, 92 persons on board, including two pilots and two cabin crew, died in that accident.

Capt. S.S. Gopujkar was in command of the flight CI-605 and Capt. C.A. Fernandez was the second pilot operating under his supervision. Like Capt. Z. Glusica (who commanded the IX-812), Capt. Gopujkar too had flying experience of over 10,000 flying hours.

The official, referring to the report of investigation conducted by the Directorate-General of Civil Aviation, pointed out that the aircraft (IC-605/VT-EPN) during approach to HAL airport never went to the speed mode which is the proper mode for landing and one of the Flight Directors remained engaged till the time the aircraft crashed.

“If Capt. Gopujkar would have also disengaged his Flight Director when Capt. Fernandez disengaged his Flight Director 21 seconds prior to the crash, the speed mode would have been activated and engine power would have started building up from that instant to restore the speed and the accident could have possibly been averted,” the official said quoting the investigation report.

The investigation report stated that the crash would not have happened if the pilots had taken any of the following actions:

• If the vertical speed of 700 feet as asked for by Capt. Fernandez at about DFRD (Digital Flight Director Recorder) 294 seconds had been selected and aircraft had continued in speed/vertical speed mode.

• If both the Flight Directors has been switched off between DFDR seconds 312 and 317.

• If taking over manual control of the thrust, that is disconnecting auto-thrust system and manually pushing the thrust levers to TOGA (Take Off-Go Around) position at or before DFDR 320 seconds (prior to 9 seconds to first impact on golf course).

• If the go around altitude of 6,000 feet had been selected on flight control unit in accordance with the standard procedure at the time it was asked for by Capt. Fernandez.

Data

The conversation between Capt. Gopujkar and Capt. Fernandez recorded in the cockpit voice recorder (CVR) played a major role in ascertaining the actions prior to the crash during 1990, said the officer while pointing out that CVR data will be crucial to arrive at reason for crash at aircraft as no clear picture is emerging at present.

As per the investigation report, IC-605/VT-EPN first contacted the ground within the boundary of Karnataka Golf Association (situated next to HAL airport) approximately 2,300 ft prior to the beginning of runway.

The aircraft had gone up into the air for a very short duration after which it again contacted the ground on all three gears and then hit an embankment at the boundary of the golf course. The aircraft finally came to rest outside the boundary wall of the HAL airport.

Monitoring speed

The investigation report further stated that “failure of the pilots to monitor speed during final approach, probably because they diverted their attention to find out the reason for aircraft going into idle/open descent mode rather than realising the gravity of the situation and responding immediately towards proper action.”