Tu-124 crash near Jorhat
Indian Air Force Tupolev Tu-124 · Crew error
From Palam, Delhi to Jorhat
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
- 5 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- Unknown
- Occupants
- Unknown
- Survivors
- 5
- 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
- Military
Tupolev Tu-124
- Aircraft type
- Tupolev TU-124
- 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
- V643
- Operator
- Indian Air Force
- Onboard fatalities
- 5
- Route
- From Palam, DelhiTo Jorhat
Approximate · Estimated position: Jorhat, near the place the Wikipedia article names. Not the accident site.
From the Wikipedia article
The Tu-124 crash near Jorhat was an aviation accident involving an Indian Air Force Tu-124K aircraft that occurred on Saturday 5 November 1977 near Jorhat (Assam state). 5 people were killed in the crash; among the survivors was the Prime Minister of India Morarji Desai.
Crash
The aircraft was operating a flight from Delhi to Jorhat, carrying a group of the Indian government, including Prime Minister Morarji Desai. At 17:03, with 5 crew members and 5 passengers on board, the Tu-124 departed from Palam Air Force Station. The landing approach at Jorhat was made after dark, and the crew was unable to line up with the runway, so it was sent around. During the second approach the aircraft descended below the glide path, after which at 19:42 it clipped the treetops. Having lost control, the machine fell onto a rice field and crashed. All 5 crew members were killed in the occurrence, but none of the passengers were harmed.
Translated into English with AI assistance from the Russian Wikipedia article “Катастрофа Ту-124 под Джорхатом” (revision 146593426, 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
Russian Wikipedia article: Катастрофа Ту-124 под Джорхатом
- Translation
- Into English with AI assistance; names of linked operators and aircraft types from Wikidata. It may contain errors.
- Revision
- 146593426 · 2025-07-16 · retrieved 2026-09-19
- Wikidata
- Q18238723
- 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
- ru Wikipedia article "Катастрофа Ту-124 под Джорхатом" (page 5217051, revision 146593426), 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 armed force or military unit 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 Russian Wikipedia article's infobox, translated into English with AI assistance, not checked against an investigation report. Independent review pending.