Air India 855 Crashes Into Arabian Sea

By Patrick Mondout

On New Year's Day 1978, an Air India 747 with 190 passengers and 23 crew crashed into the Arabian Sea near Bandra, India shortly after takeoff killing all on board.

A faulty Attitude Director Indicator caused the captain believe the aircraft was not pulling out of a slight right turn at 2000 feet as much as he wanted. As it was a night flight in total darkness, the crew was unable to judge the horizon by looking out the aircraft. The flight engineer noticed his indicator and the pilot's were in disagreement and asked the pilot not to rely on his, but the captain continued to pull to the left until the aircraft entered a bank descent from which they were unable to pull out of into the the shallow water below.

This was the third worst aviation accident at the time.

Source: AAIB Circular 79-04, pages 23-25.

Air India 855 at a Glance
Airline	Air India
Date	January 1, 1978
Flight number	855
Registration Number	VT-EBD
Crew Fatalities	23 of 23
Passenger Fatalities	190 of 190
Total Fatalities	213 of 213

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