Alliance Air Flight 7412 was a scheduled Indian domestic passenger flight from Calcutta to Delhi, operated by Indian regional airliner Alliance Air. On 17 July 2000, while on approach to its first stopover in Patna, the Boeing 737-2A8 operating the route nose-dived and crashed into a residential area in Patna, killing 60 people including 5 on the ground.
The final report, investigated by the Indian Directorate General of Civil Aviation, concluded that the cause of the crash was due to pilot error. The aircraft was on approach with its engines at idle thrust and the crew made several maneuvers with high-pitch attitude. When the aircraft sounded a warning on an impending stall, the crew elected to execute a go-around procedure instead of a stall recovery procedure, causing the aircraft to enter an actual stall condition.
Aircraft
The aircraft involved in the accident was a Boeing 737-200, registered in India as VT-EGD with a serial number of MSN22280. The aircraft was manufactured in 1980 and sold to Indian Airlines. It was subsequently leased to Alliance Air in 1999. The aircraft had accrued a total flying cycles of 51,278 cycles. Two Pratt & Whitney JT8D/17A engines powered the aircraft, each developing approximately of thrust at sea level. The left engine and the right engine had gone through a total of 13,931 hours and 9,387 hours, respectively. The aircraft was to be phased out by the end of the year per Indian government guidelines which do not allow aircraft over 20 years old to operate in Indian airspace.
The aircraft had been involved in an earlier accident. On 15 January 1986, the pilot of the aircraft attempted to land at Tiruchirapalli in conditions below weather minima. During go-around, the wing contacted the runway due to an excessive bank angle. The wing was substantially damaged, but there were no injuries among the 6 crew and 122 passengers. The pilot displayed great skill in manually flying the aircraft at FL100 (approximately ) and diverted to Chennai and landed safely with flight controls in "manual reversion" on runway 07.
Passengers and crews
Flight 7412 was carrying 52 passengers and 6 crew members, consisted of two flight crew and 4 cabin crew. Most of the passengers were Indians. The passengers were consisted of 44 men, 5 women and 3 children. Among the passengers were 4 members of a single family from Glasgow. A total of 6 people had boarded the flight to Lucknow, while the other 46 were heading to Patna.
The pilot flying was 31-year-old Captain Arvind Singh Bagga. He had a total flying experience of 4,085 hours, of which 3,605 hours were on the Boeing 737. The pilot not-flying was 35-year-old Captain Manjit Singh Sohanpal. He had a total flying experience of 4,361 hours, of which 1,778 hours were on the Boeing 737. Both flight crew were described as experienced pilots.
Accident
Flight 7412 departed Calcutta (now Kolkata) at 06:51 local time on 17 July 2000 for a flight to the Indian capital of Delhi, with stops at Patna and Lucknow, carrying 52 passengers and 6 crew members. The aircraft was flown by Captain Bagga with Captain Sohanpal as his co-pilot. The flight was uneventful until its approach.
At 07:12 a.m, the aircraft was handed over to Patna following its take-off from Calcutta. At 07:17 a.m, during the approach, Patna ATC asked the crew to report for descent and also to check descent traffic with Calcutta Area Control. The aircraft was then cleared for descent to flight level 75 (approximately ) and eventually to . Flight crews were asked to report for an approach to runway 25.
The flight crew reported commencing the turn to Patna at 07:28 a.m and three minutes later they reported crossing the airport area and coming up on the localiser. The aircraft was then asked to descend to . Patna ATC later cleared the aircraft to land at Runway 25. The flight crew, however, noticed that their altitude was much higher than the usual altitude for an approach and requested the ATC for a 360-degree orbit. The ATC granted their request and asked the crew to report back on the approach, which the crew acknowledged. This was the last transmission from the crew.
Following the aircraft's clearance for a circle, the flight crew attempted a turn to the left. At the time, the aircraft was flying above Patna's Secretariat Tower. During the left turn, the stick shaker activated, warning the crew on the impending stall condition. The aircraft continued to bank, losing its altitude and eventually grazed trees and a single-storied house in a government residential housing estate, crashing in a government residential colony behind Gardani Bagh Girls School at 07:34 a.m.