1979 Indian Airlines Boeing 737 accident at Madras Airport
Boeing 737-2A8 · An accident involving an Indian Airlines Boeing 737 occurred on 26 April 1979 at Madras Airport
From Thiruvananthapuram International Airport (TRV) 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
- Occurrence
- Event fatalities
- 0 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- Unknown
- Occupants
- Unknown
- Survivors
- 67
- 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
Boeing 737-2A8
- 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-ECR
- Operator
- Indian Airlines
- Onboard fatalities
- 0
- Route
- From Thiruvananthapuram International Airport (TRV)To Chennai International Airport (MAA)
Approximate · Estimated position: Chennai International Airport, the airport the Wikipedia article names as the site. Where on or near it is not known.
From the Wikipedia article
An accident involving an Indian Airlines Boeing 737 occurred on 26 April 1979 at Madras Airport. An Indian Airlines Boeing 737-2A8 with the aircraft registration VT-ECR, which had taken off from Trivandrum International Airport on a domestic flight, crashed during an emergency landing after its electrics and instruments had failed shortly before because of a bomb explosion on board. Although the aircraft was completely destroyed, all 67 occupants survived the accident.
Accident sequence
The flight had taken off from Trivandrum International Airport and at first proceeded without any particular incidents. During the flight the aircraft received clearance to descend to 27,000 feet (approx. 8,230 metres). Shortly afterwards there was an explosion in the forward lavatory, which resulted in a complete failure of the electrics and instruments.
Because of the system failure, the flaps could not be extended during the approach to Madras Airport. Thrust reversers and anti-skid system were not available. The aircraft touched down approx. 760 metres beyond the threshold of runway 25 and overran its end. The right side of the aircraft caught fire. All 67 occupants survived the incident.
Cause of the accident
The investigators recorded an explosive detonation in the forward lavatory as the cause of the accident. The aircraft had overrun the end of the runway because of a high landing speed and because spoilers, thrust reversers and anti-skid system were not available as a result of the explosion.
Translated into English with AI assistance from the German Wikipedia article “Flugunfall einer Boeing 737 der Indian Airlines 1979 auf dem Flughafen Madras” (revision 270274638, retrieved 2026-09-19) by its authors, under CC BY-SA 4.0. Extracted as plain text: references, tables, images and some sections are left out; the translation may contain errors, and long articles were cut to their first 700 words. Read the article
Sources
German Wikipedia article: Flugunfall einer Boeing 737 der Indian Airlines 1979 auf dem Flughafen Madras
- Translation
- Into English with AI assistance; names of linked operators and aircraft types from Wikidata. It may contain errors.
- Revision
- 270274638 · 2026-09-06 · retrieved 2026-09-19
- Wikidata
- Q65235432
- 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
- de Wikipedia article "Flugunfall einer Boeing 737 der Indian Airlines 1979 auf dem Flughafen Madras" (page 10750051, revision 270274638), translated into English with AI assistance
- 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
- operator named as an airline in the infobox
- Fatalities
- Wikipedia infobox: aircraft fatalities
- Ground fatalities
- not stated in the Wikipedia infobox
- Summary
- Wikipedia article lead
Source notes (1)
- Wikipedia · Facts from the German Wikipedia article's infobox, translated into English with AI assistance, not checked against an investigation report. Independent review pending.