Exactly 33 years ago today on February 14, 1990, Indian Airlines Flight 605 crashed onto a golf course while landing at Bangalore. Ninety-two of the 146 passengers and crew onboard were killed in the accident. Indian Airlines Flight 605 was a scheduled domestic passenger flight between Mumbai (Bombay) International Airport (BOM) and Bangalore-Hindustan Airport (BLR)
The aircraft involved in the crash was a five-month-old Airbus A320-231 with the registration VT-EPN. Before the accident happened, the aircraft performed two other flights that day, flying from Bombay to Goa and back.
In command of the flight was 46-year-old Captain Cyril Fernandez, who had joined Indian Airlines in 1977. Fernandez first flew a Hawker Siddeley HS 748 before obtaining a co-pilot rating on a Boeing 737 and later his Captain rating. In 1989 Fernandez got his co-pilot rating on the Airbus A320. In total Fernandez had 9,307 flight hours of which only 68 were on the Airbus A320. Seated in the left seat, Fernandez was still training on the Airbus A320 under the supervision of 44-year-old Captain Satish Gopujkar. During the ill-fated flight, he carried out the co-pilot's duties.
Everything was fine until the plane attempted to land
Flight 605 took off from Bombay Airport at 11:58 local time after an hour's delay. Onboard the aircraft were 139 passengers and seven crew. At 12:25 the pilots of flight 605 contacted Bangalore tower prior to the aircraft's approach and were informed of the local weather conditions. There was a variable wind gusting at five knots, a visibility of 6.2 miles and a cloud ceiling of 2,000 feet. The temperature at the time was 80.6 °F. At 12:44 the aircraft was cleared to descend to 10,000 feet and told to make a visual approach to Runway 09.
The crew disengaged the autopilot and began their approach into Bangalore. While making the approach, the aircraft descended well below the correct glideslope and the wheels touched down on Karnataka Golf Club well off the centerline of the runway and 2,300 feet short of the threshold. As the aircraft traveled over the ground, it briefly took to the air again for 230 feet before impacting the ground again on the golf course's 17th green. The plane's wheels sank into the ground as the plane careered into a 12 feet high embankment before coming to rest in a marshy rocky area.
54 people survived the crash
Following the crash, the plane caught fire as survivors escaped from the wreckage. 92 passengers and four crew members died, leaving just 54 people alive, two of whom later died from their injuries. According to witnesses on the ground, no fire service units arrived at the scene as there were no radio communications between Bangalore tower and the airport's fire station. They did have a portable radio for communicating with each other, but on the day of the crash, it was not working.
The investigation into the crash of Indian Airways Flight 605
The Indian Ministry of Civil Aviation ordered an investigation into the crash to be carried out by the Indian Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) assisted by the Transportation Safety Board of Canada (TSB).
The conclusion determined that both pilots failed to realize the gravity of the situation and failed to engage the plane's throttles when they realized they were too low. At the time of the accident, the A320 was a relatively new aircraft fitted with new fly-by-wire technology that pilots were not used to.