The fatal 17 July 2000 Alliance Air Boeing 737-200 crash on final approach to Patna, India, was caused by the aircraft stalling when the crew attempted high-bank turns at very low speed with the engines set at idle, according to the just-released Court of Inquiry report. All six crew and 49 of the 52 passengers were killed.
The crew failed to adhere to basic stall recovery procedure, never using the control column to reduce the angle of attack upon stall warning, the Indian inquiry determined.
With the stickshaker stall warning and ground proximity system alert still sounding despite crew attempts to increase power for a go-around manoeuvre, the aircraft hit buildings and trees.
As a result of shortcutting the published non-precision approach to the instrument landing system (ILS), the aircraft intercepted the ILS centreline only 2km from the runway threshold while still at 1,400ft (460m) above airfield elevation. The throttles had been set at idle from 26,000ft, according to the report, and remained there as airspeed dropped and the crew attempted an S-turn manoeuvre to lose height.
Finally, while the crew started a 360° orbit with the throttles still closed, the aircraft began to stall. Although the pilots began to increase the power about 15s before impact, the airspeed dropped to 119kt with the aircraft still banked.
Source: Flight International
