Indian Airlines Flight 491

Flight IC-491

An Indian Airlines Boeing 737-2A8 similar to the one involved.
Accident
Date	26 April 1993
Summary	Pilot error
Site	Aurangabad, Maharashtra, India
Aircraft type	Boeing 737 2A8
Operator	Indian Airlines
Passengers	112
Crew	6
Fatalities	55
Injuries	63
Survivors	63

Indian Airlines Flight 491 was on its connecting route from Delhi to Bombay with en route stops at Jaipur, Udaipur and Aurangabad. The heavily laden aircraft started its takeoff from Aurangabad's runway 09 in hot and humid temperatures.

After lifting off almost at the end of the runway, it impacted heavily with a lorry on a highway at the end of the runway. The left main landing gear, left engine bottom cowling and thrust reverser impacted the left side of the truck at a height of nearly seven feet from the level of the road. Thereafter the aircraft hit the high tension electric wires nearly 3 km northeast of the runway and hit the ground.

The probable cause of the crash was the "Pilots' error in initiating late rotation and following wrong rotation technique" and "failure of the NAA to regulate the mobile traffic on the highway during the flight hours".

There was speculation that the truck was actually on the runway and not outside on the road, but was subsequently clarified in the Lok Sabha.

See also

• List of accidents and incidents involving commercial aircraft