On October 12, 1976, an Indian Airlines Caravelle flight from Bombay to Madras (IC 171) crashed shortly after take-off at Bombay and while attempting an emergency landing, killing all 95 passengers on board. An engine had caught fire. Among the last words of Captain K.D. Gupta, the commander, picked up by the cockpit voice recorder was that he “was feeling sleepy”. He had done the early morning Boeing departure to Delhi and back, spent the whole day in office and opted to operate the delayed Caravelle flight. The ill-fated plane was to operate the flight after the authorities “had made two earlier futile attempts to fly the passengers to Madras” on a Boeing flight. One of the Boeings had had a bird hit and the other had a snag. Passengers were also discontented.
Some of the operating procedures on the Caravelle were different from those on a Boeing, which was highlighted in the court inquiry. Following the crash, one of the quick regulator actions was to stop pilots operating two types of aircraft. The pilots on the Caravelle flight, Captain Gupta and co-pilot Captain K.L. Pershad/Prasad, had endorsements on their licences to fly the Boeing and the Caravelle.
