| Status: | Final |
| Date: | 26 APR 1993 |
| Time: | 13:06 |
| Type: | Boeing 737-2A8 |
| Operator: | Indian Airlines |
| Registration: | VT-ECQ |
| C/n / msn: | 20961/375 |
| First flight: | 1974-09-18 (18 years 8 months) |
| Total airframe hrs: | 43886 |
| Engines: | 2 Pratt & Whitney JT8D-9A |
| Crew: | Fatalities: 2 / Occupants: 6 |
| Passengers: | Fatalities: 53 / Occupants: 112 |
| Total: | Fatalities: 55 / Occupants: 118 |
| Airplane damage: | Written off |
| Airplane fate: | Written off (damaged beyond repair) |
| Location: | 3 km (1.9 mls) NE of Aurangabad Airport (IXU) (India)
 |
| Phase: | Takeoff (TOF) |
| Nature: | Domestic Scheduled Passenger |
| Departure airport: | Aurangabad-Chikkalthana Airport (IXU/VAAU), India |
| Destination airport: | Bombay-Sahar International Airport (BOM/VABB), India |
| Flightnumber: | 491 |
Narrative:Boeing 737 VT-ECQ was operating flight IC-491 from Delhi to Bombay with enroute stops at Jaipur, Udaipur and Aurangabad. The heavily laden aircraft started its takeoff roll from Aurangabad's runway 09 (which is approx 7500 feet long) in high temperatures (38-41deg C). After lifting off almost at the end of the runway, it impacted heavily with a lorry carrying pressed cotton bales on a highway at a distance of about 410 feet from the end of runway. The left main landing gear, left engine bottom cowling and thrust reverser impacted the left side of the truck at a height of nearly seven feet from the level of the road. Thereafter the aircraft hit the high tension electric wires nearly 3 kms North-East of the runway and hit the ground.
PROBABLE CAUSE: "(i) Pilots' error in initiating late rotation and following wrong rotation technique, and (ii) failure of the NAA to regulate the mobile traffic on the Beed road during the flight hours".
Sources:
» Civil aviation aircraft accident summary for the year 1993 (DGAC India)
Photos
Map
This map shows the airport of departure and the intended destination of the flight. The line between the airports does
not display the exact flight path.
Distance from Aurangabad-Chikkalthana Airport to Bombay-Sahar International Airport as the crow flies is 277 km (173 miles).