2,173 killed in air crashes since 1947
Data compiled since Independence shows pilot error was the cause behind eight of India’s 10 most fatal plane crashes
nNEW DELHI: Eighteen people, including both pilots, died on August 7 when an Air India Express flight carrying 190 people crashed at Kozhikode airport in Kerala. With this, the number of people to have died in commercial airline accidents in independent India has reached 2,173, a Hindustan Times analysis found. An overwhelming 80% of them have died in accidents caused by pilot error – an action or decision taken by the pilot which was the cause or a contributing factor in an accident.
The analysis is based on data compiled by the Aviation Safety Network, a privately run initiative that keeps track of aviation accidents, incidents and hijackings. The cause of most accidents has been sourced from accident investigation reports by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation, and of remaining from the Aviation Safety Network. The analysis has looked at only passenger flights and only those accidents in which at least one passenger or crew member died. Chartered flights, training flights, cargo flights and flights without passengers have not been accounted for.
The Kozhikode crash was the 52nd commercial airliner accident in independent India that led to fatalities. There have been over 100 more accidents of commercial airliners, but they have not led to fatalities. Of the 52 fatal accidents, 40 involved Indian airliners and 12 foreign airliners.
The skies today are generally safer than anytime before. The number of fliers has increased manifold over time – for instance, the number of passengers handled by airports in India increased by more than nine times between 1995-96 and 2019-20, according to data compiled by the ministry of civil aviation. But the number of fliers dying in air crashes has significantly reduced over time.
This decade (2011-2020) has by far been the safest period in terms of air crashes in independent India. This month’s air crash in Kozhikode was the only passenger plane crash that led to fatalities in this decade. In the previous decade (2001-2010) also, there was only one fatal accident – an Air India Express flight that crashed after landing at Mangalore, killing 158 of the 166 people on board, in May 2010. The decade before (1991-2000) saw seven fatal crashes which killed 552 people, including 349 killed in the world’s worst midair collision in the skies over Haryana.
Aircraft technology has changed over time, so have the causes of air accidents. In 30 years between 1951 and 1980, there were 34 fatal air crashes; pilot error was a cause or contributing factor in 20 or nearly 59% of the accidents. In the next 30 years, between 1981 and 2010, there were 13 fatal air accidents and of them 12 or 92% were linked to pilot error. To be sure, the number of accidents caused by pilot error does not show an increasing trend, but their share in all fatal accidents has increased because less fatal accidents are now caused by other reasons such as mechanical or structural failure.
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This is a global trend. A report by Boeing, one of the world’s leading aircraft manufacturers, in 2007 had also stated that 80% of air accidents across the world in present times were caused by human error compared to just 20% in the early 1990s.
In terms of fatalities, 68% of 1,057 people who died in India between 1951 and 1980 died in accidents caused by pilot error, while 99% of 997 people who died between 1981 and 2010 died in accidents caused by pilot error. All put together, 80% or 1,740 of 2,173 people in India have died in accidents in which pilot error was either the cause or a contributory factor. The cause of last week’s crash in Kozhikode is not known yet; some experts have blamed the pilot’s decision to land in unfavourable weather conditions for it.
Pilot error was found to be the cause in eight of India’s 10 most fatal air crashes. These 10 accidents together killed 1,352 people. One-hundred and fifty eight of them were killed in two accidents caused by engine failure and severe turbulence. (See map)
The deadliest air crash in India’s history has been a midair collision 14,000 feet high in the skies over Charkhi Dadri in Haryana on 12 November 1996. A Saudi Arabian jumbo jet collided shortly after take-off with a Kazak Airlines plane approaching Delhi airport, killing 349 on board the two planes. Investigation team found pilot error to be the cause of the accident. The Kazak Airlines plane was commanded by air traffic control to fly at 15,000 feet, but the pilots made an unauthorised descent to 14,000 feet, causing the collision. This is also known as the worst mid-air collision in world history.
In some accidents, pilot error accompanies other reasons, for instance in case of India’s second deadliest air crash. An Air India flight crashed in the sea near Mumbai shortly after takeoff on 1 January 1978, killing all 213 people on board. Investigation found that a malfunction of an instrument called Attitude Director Indicator made the pilot unaware of the aircraft’s attitude (orientation relative to the natural horizon), but it also found that the captain failed to determine the attitude with other available instruments and that the co-pilot failed to monitor the flight instruments and did not render any assistance to the captain in ascertaining the attitude of the aircraft.
The Mangalore air crash in 2010 that killed 158 became the third deadliest air crash in India. It too was a direct result of pilot error. The investigation team found that the pilots failed to plan their descent properly, causing the aircraft to be higher than it should have been at the time of landing. The captain, the investigation team found, failed to discontinue this unstabilised approach and persisted in continuing with the landing despite three calls by the co-pilot to go around.
More than 2K people have died in 52 commercial airliner crashes in independent India CHART 1 CHART 2 1 4 2 5 10
Charkhi Dadri, Haryana
Ahmedabad, Gujarat
Mumbai, Maharashtra
Mumbai, Maharashtra
Mumbai, Maharashtra