Indian Airlines Flight 171
Sud Aviation Caravelle · In-flight fire due to an uncontained engine failure
From Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (BOM) to Chennai International Airport (MAA)
Event
- Event typeAccident: someone killed or seriously injured, or the aircraft substantially damaged (NTSB definition). Incident: an occurrence that affected or could have affected safety, short of that. Glossary
- Accident
- Event fatalities
- 95 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- Unknown
- Occupants
- 95
- Survivors
- 0
- InjuriesFatal: death within 30 days. Serious: over 48 hours in hospital within a week, most broken bones, severe bleeding, nerve or organ damage, or serious burns. Minor: anything less. Glossary
- Unknown
- OperationWhat kind of flying it was, grouped by the rules it flew under: airline (US Part 121), air taxi and commuter (Part 135), general aviation (Part 91 and similar), military or government. Glossary
- Airline
Sud Aviation Caravelle
- Flight
- IC171
- Aircraft type
- Sud AVIATION CARAVELLE
- Category
- Airplane · from aircraft type
- RegistrationThe aircraft's tail number, such as N12345 or G-ABCD. Registrations are reissued, so the same one years apart can be a different aircraft. Glossary
- VT-DWN
- Operator
- Indian Airlines
- Onboard fatalities
- 95
- Route
- From Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (BOM)To Chennai International Airport (MAA)
Cause areas
- Aircraft › Aircraft power plant
From the investigation findings the Wikipedia article reports, sorted into the NTSB's cause areas with AI assistance.
Approximate · Estimated position: Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport, the airport the Wikipedia article names as the site. Where on or near it is not known.
From the Wikipedia article
Indian Airlines Flight 171 was a scheduled domestic passenger flight operated by a Sud Aviation Caravelle that crashed while attempting an emergency landing at Bombay Airport (now Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport) on 12 October 1976 after suffering an uncontained engine failure, killing all 95 people on board. Metal fatigue in the No. 2 engine's 10th stage high-pressure compressor disk had caused it to disintegrate. The resulting fragments severed fuel lines, causing fuel to leak into the engine and ignite, producing an uncontrolled fire that eventually affected control surfaces, leading to a loss of control.
Accident
Flight 171 was a scheduled domestic passenger flight from Bombay (now Mumbai) to Madras (now Chennai). A Boeing aircraft was originally supposed to make the flight but it developed engine trouble and was replaced with a Sud Aviation Caravelle. Shortly after takeoff from runway 27, Flight 171 suffered a No. 2 engine failure. The crew of Flight 171 immediately turned back to attempt an emergency landing on Bombay Airport's runway 09. With its undercarriage down, approximately 1000 yd from the end of the runway, and while at an altitude of 300 ft, the aircraft suffered a loss of control and plummeted into the ground. Everyone on board Flight 171 perished in the accident.
Investigation and cause
Cause
A fatigue crack in the tenth stage compressor disc caused a power plant failure which was followed by the bursting of the compressor casing and the cutting of fuel lines that spanned the structure. This caused an intense in-flight fire in the engine bay. It is believed the fire consumed the Caravelle's supply of hydraulic fluid and this was the cause of the aircraft going out of control.
Text from the Wikipedia article “Indian Airlines Flight 171” (revision 1369106689, retrieved 2026-09-18) by its authors, under CC BY-SA 4.0. Extracted as plain text: references, tables, images and some sections are left out. Read the article
Sources
Wikipedia article: Indian Airlines Flight 171
- Article
- Indian Airlines Flight 171
- Revision
- 1369106689 · 2026-08-12 · retrieved 2026-09-18
- Wikidata
- Q15948989
- Licence
- Text CC BY-SA 4.0, by the article's authors; Wikidata CC0; town positions GeoNames (CC BY 4.0)
Where each value comes from
- Record
- Wikipedia article "Indian Airlines Flight 171" (page 36687157, revision 1369106689)
- Date
- Wikipedia infobox: date
- Place and country
- Wikipedia infobox: site
- Map position
- airport the Wikipedia infobox site links (Wikidata code, OurAirports)
- Aircraft, operator and route
- Wikipedia infobox: aircraft type, registration, operator, origin and destination; route airports from the linked airport articles' Wikidata codes (OurAirports)
- Operation
- airline flight number in the infobox
- Fatalities
- Wikipedia infobox: aircraft fatalities
- Ground fatalities
- not stated in the Wikipedia infobox
- Summary
- Wikipedia infobox: summary
Source notes (1)
- Wikipedia · Facts from the Wikipedia article's infobox and coordinates, not checked against an investigation report. Independent review pending.