1994 Indira Gandhi Airport collision
Sahara India Airlines Boeing 737-200 and Aeroflot Ilyushin Il-86 · Loss of control after takeoff due to pilot error during training exercise
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
- 9 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- 1
- Occupants
- 8
- 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
- 4 · all on the ground
- 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
Aircraft 1 · Boeing 737-200
- Aircraft type
- Boeing 737
- 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-SIA
- Operator
- Sahara India Airlines
- Onboard fatalities
- 4
- Occupants
- 4
- 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
- None · no survivors
- Route
- From Delhi-Indira Gandhi International Airport, IndiaTo Delhi-Indira Gandhi International Airport, India
Aircraft 2 · Ilyushin Il-86
- Flight
- SU558
- Aircraft type
- Ilyushin IL-86
- 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
- RA-86119
- Operator
- Aeroflot
- Onboard fatalities
- 4
- Occupants
- 4
- 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
- None · no survivors
- Route
- From Changi Airport, SingaporeTo Sheremetyevo International Airport, Moscow
Approximate · Coordinates from the Wikipedia article; not checked against an investigation report.
From the Wikipedia article
On 8 March 1994, a Sahara India Airlines Boeing 737-200 crashed shortly after takeoff during a training exercise at Delhi-Indira Gandhi International Airport, India. The plane crashed into an Aeroflot Ilyushin Il-86, which led to both aircraft being destroyed. All 6 crew members on both aircraft were killed, along with two other Aeroflot employees on the Ilyushin, while one person on the ground was killed.
Flight crew
The flight crew consisted of a flight instructor and three trainee pilots.
Accident
At about 2:54 pm on Tuesday, March 8, 1994, the Boeing 737-200 took off from Delhi-Indira Gandhi International Airport, India, on the sixth of a planned series of touch-and-go landings. After climbing to 400 - 500 ft, it banked left and crashed at the International Terminal apron. The wreckage collided with an Aeroflot Ilyushin Il-86 aircraft, registration number RA-86119, Flight 558, which was parked on Bay No. 45 after making an unscheduled layover and undergoing repairs. The Ilyushin was fully loaded with fuel and also caught fire as a result of the impact. Both aircraft were destroyed and all 4 crew members on board the Boeing were killed, as well as all 4 Aeroflot employees on board the Ilyushin: 2 crew members, a ground engineer, and an airport worker. Additionally, an employee of Bharat Petroleum, the airport fuel supplier, was killed on the tarmac. At least two air bridges and other ground facilities were damaged.
Investigation and cause
Investigation
An investigation by the India Commercial Pilot Association (ICPA) revealed that the accident occurred due to application of the incorrect rudder by a trainee pilot during the exercise. The flight instructor, who was making his first flight as an instructor, did not guard or block the rudder control and did not give clear commands to avoid the application of the wrong rudder control by the trainee pilot.
Text from the Wikipedia article “1994 Indira Gandhi Airport collision” (revision 1374521516, 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: 1994 Indira Gandhi Airport collision
- Revision
- 1374521516 · 2026-09-12 · retrieved 2026-09-18
- Wikidata
- Q30890205
- 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 "1994 Indira Gandhi Airport collision" (page 64343724, revision 1374521516)
- Date
- Wikipedia infobox: date
- Place and country
- Wikipedia infobox: site
- Map position
- Wikipedia article coordinates
- 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: total_fatalities
- Ground fatalities
- Wikipedia infobox: ground fatalities
- 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.