Indian Airlines HAL 748 accident near Panvel
Hindustan HAL 748 · Controlled flight into terrain
From Pune International Airport (PNQ) to Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (BOM)
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
- 45 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- Unknown
- Occupants
- Unknown
- 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
Hindustan HAL 748
- Aircraft type
- Hindustan HAL-748
- 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-DXJ
- Operator
- Indian Airlines
- Onboard fatalities
- 45
- Route
- From Pune International Airport (PNQ)To Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (BOM)
Cause areas
- Aircraft › Aircraft systems
- Personnel issues › Psychological
- Personnel issues › Action/decision
- Environmental issues › Operating environment
From the investigation findings the Wikipedia article reports, sorted into the NTSB's cause areas with AI assistance.
Approximate · Estimated position: Panvel, near the place the Wikipedia article names. Not the accident site.
From the Wikipedia article
The Indian Airlines HAL 748 accident near Panvel occurred on 4 August 1979 on the domestic scheduled flight of an Indian Airlines Hindustan HAL 748 from Pune to Bombay. All 45 occupants were killed in the accident, making it the deadliest accident of a HAL 748 worldwide.
Accident sequence
Shortly after takeoff in Pune, the pilots contacted air traffic control in Bombay and reported their estimated time of arrival. The aircraft was approaching Bombay Airport from a south-easterly direction at night and in rain when the pilots had problems with the on-board systems. Shortly afterwards, at 20:16, the aircraft collided, 11 kilometres east of Bombay and 29 kilometres short of the destination airport, with a mountainside in the Kiroli mountains.
Poor visibility and heavy rainfall hampered the search and recovery operation. The aircraft was found after hours. The aircraft was completely destroyed by the impact and the subsequent fire. All 45 occupants were killed.
Investigation and cause
Cause
The accident investigation found that during the approach the aircraft's instrument system temporarily had no power, as a result of which the pilots mistakenly believed they were following the glide path, which was not the case.
The investigators accused the captain of not having used the glide path equipment only after the outer marker, as intended, and of having descended below 2,910 feet without having first verified his position over the outer marker. They accused the radar controller of having failed to give the pilots information about their position from time to time and of having used incorrect and/or non-standard phraseology. He was also said not to have informed the crew about the loss of radar contact.
Translated into English with AI assistance from the German Wikipedia article “Flugunfall einer HAL 748 der Indian Airlines bei Panvel” (revision 244012048, 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 HAL 748 der Indian Airlines bei Panvel
- Translation
- Into English with AI assistance; names of linked operators and aircraft types from Wikidata. It may contain errors.
- Revision
- 244012048 · 2024-04-13 · retrieved 2026-09-19
- Wikidata
- Q125458788
- 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 HAL 748 der Indian Airlines bei Panvel" (page 12900846, revision 244012048), translated into English with AI assistance
- Date
- Wikipedia infobox: date
- Place and country
- Wikipedia infobox: site
- Map position
- place the Wikipedia infobox site links (Wikidata 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
- 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.