Incident Overview

Date: Monday 15 November 1993
Aircraft Type: Airbus A300B2-101
Owner/operator: Indian Airlines
Registration Number: VT-EDV
Location: 26 km from Tirupati Airport (TIR) – ÿ India
Phase of Flight: Landing
Status: Destroyed, written off
Casualties: Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 262
Component Affected: Aircraft Flight Control SystemAircraft Flight Control System
Category: Accident
An aircraft carrying out a missed approach to Hyderabad experienced low visibility and a flap retraction problem, leading to a holding pattern and subsequent diversion to Madras. Due to fuel shortage caused by the flap issue, the crew executed a forced landing in an open paddy field.An aircraft carrying out a missed approach to Hyderabad experienced low visibility and a flap retraction problem, leading to a holding pattern and subsequent diversion to Madras. Due to fuel shortage caused by the flap issue, the crew executed a forced landing in an open paddy field.

Description

The aircraft could not land at Hyderabad due to low visibility and carried out a missed approach. After the missed approach, the crew reported a flap retraction problem and decided to enter a holding pattern overhead at Hyderabad, during which the flight crew enquired visibility at nearby Air Force airfields. Because visibility was low there as well, the aircraft then diverted to Madras. Due to flaps problem, the crew had to maintain low speed and low altitude as a result of which it experienced fuel shortage. The crew then tried to divert to nearby Tirupati. However, the aircraft could not reach even Tirupati airport and executed forced landing in an open paddy field about 14 nautical miles from Tirupati airport. The aircraft dragged on the soft paddy field before coming to final stop. PROBABLE CAUSE: “(a) The ill-conceived decision of the aircraft’s Commander to divert to Madras, without ensuring that adequate fuel was available for reaching there, when he was faced with a flap-jam and poor visibility at Hyderabad. (b) The failure of the aircraft’s Commander and his Flight Crew to monitor fuel consumption correctly, and the failure of the Commander to revise his decision accordingly, until it became impossible to reach any airfield. (c) A forced landing due to the eventual shortage of fuel”.

Primary Cause

(a) The aircraft’s Commander’s ill-conceived decision to divert to Madras without sufficient fuel reserves, compounded by poor visibility at Hyderabad.(a) The aircraft’s Commander’s ill-conceived decision to divert to Madras without sufficient fuel reserves, compounded by poor visibility at Hyderabad.

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