Alliance Air Flight 7412, a Boeing 737-200, lost contol on approach to Patna Airport, India, killing 55 occupants and 5 persons on the ground; three occupants survived. Flight 7412 departed Calcutta 21 minutes late, at 06:51, for a flight to Patna, Lucknow and Delhi. The crew had been cleared to land at runway 25 when they requested a 360-degree orbit because they were high on the approach. Permission was granted and a left turn was initiated. During the left turn, the aircraft stalled. The plane then grazed a few single-storied houses in a government residential housing estate at Aneeshabad and exploded into a ball of fire. The aircraft broke into four pieces. The accident site is located about 2 km southwest of the Patna Airport. Weather reported at 07:30 included temperature 30deg C (86 F), dewpoint 27deg C (80 F); 997 mB; wind calm, haze, 4000 m visibility. The aircraft in question, VT-EGD, had been involved in an accident 14 years ago. On January 15, 1986, the pilot of flight 529 attempted to land at Tiruchirapalli in conditions below weather minima. During a go-around the wing contacted the runway due to an excessive bank angle. The wing was substantially damaged, but there were no injuries among the 6 crew and 122 passengers. PROBABLE CAUSE: “The cause of the accident was loss of control of the aircraft due Human Error (air crew).ÿ The crew had not followed the correct approach procedure, which resulted in the aircraft being high on approach.ÿ They had kept the engines at idle thrust and allowed the air speed to reduce to a lower than normally permissible value on approach.ÿ They then maneuvered the aircraft with high pitch attitude and executed rapid roll reversals.ÿ This resulted in actuation of the stick shaker stall warning indicating an approaching stall.ÿ At this stage, the crew initiated a Go Around procedure instead of Approach to Stall Recovery procedure resulting in an actual stall of the aircraft, loss of control and subsequent impact with the ground.”