Air India Flight 245

VT-CQP, the aircraft involved in the accident, in 1949
Accident
Date	3 November 1950  ( 1950-11-03 )
Summary	Controlled flight into terrain (CFIT) in poor weather
Site	Mont Blanc
Aircraft
Aircraft type	Lockheed L-749A Constellation
Aircraft name	Malabar Princess
Operator	Air India
Registration	VT-CQP
Flight origin	Sahar International Airport , Bombay , India
1st stopover	Cairo International Airport , Cairo , Egypt
2nd stopover	Cointrin Airport , Geneva , Switzerland
Destination	London Heathrow Airport , London , United Kingdom
Passengers	40
Crew	8
Fatalities	48
Survivors	0

Air India Flight 245 was a scheduled Air India passenger flight from Bombay to London via Cairo and Geneva. On the morning of 3 November 1950, the Lockheed L-749A Constellation serving the flight crashed into Mont Blanc , France, while approaching Geneva. All 48 aboard were killed.

The plane operating the flight was named Malabar Princess , registered VT-CQP. It was piloted by Captain Alan R. Saint, 34, and co-pilot V. Y. Korgaokar and was carrying 40 passengers and 8 crew. While over France, descending towards Geneva Airport , the flight crashed into the French Alps in stormy weather, killing all on board. ^{[1] [2] [3]}

Accident [ edit ]

The airplane hit the face of the Rocher 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 by controllers at Grenoble and Geneva, was "I am vertical with Voiron , at 4700 meters altitude." at 10:43 a.m.

Some mail on board the flight was recovered after the crash and was annotated with "Retarde par suite d'accident aerien" ("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 the Bossons 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 crash, Air India Flight 101 crashed in almost exactly the same spot under similar circumstances. ^[5] In September 2013, a climber discovered a cache of jewelry that is believed to have been aboard one of these two flights. ^[6]

References [ edit ]

45°49′59″N 6°51′35″E  /  45.83306°N 6.85972°E  / 45.83306; 6.85972