Air India Flight 127

Air India Flight 127 was a scheduled passenger flight from HAL Airport, Bangalore to O'Hare International Airport, Chicago, with stops at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport, Mumbai and Frankfurt Airport, Frankfurt. On 30 July 2005, the flight, operated by a Boeing 747-400, skidded while landing at Mumbai early in the morning. There were no fatalities in the aftermath of the incident among the passengers and crew. The cause of the skidding was a wet runway, that happened due to heavy rains that also were responsible for heavy flooding 4 days before the incident.

Air India Flight 127

Incident
Date	30 July 2005
Summary	Skidding of the plane; Wet runway as a contributing factor
Site	Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport, Bombay now (Mumbai), India
Aircraft
Aircraft type	Boeing 747-4B5
Aircraft name	Fatehpur Sikri
Operator	Air India
Registration	VT-EVJ
Flight origin	HAL Airport, Bangalore, India
1st stopover	Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport, Mumbai, India
2nd stopover	Frankfurt Airport, Frankfurt, Germany
Destination	O'Hare International Airport, Chicago, United States of America
Occupants	335
Passengers	315
Crew	20
Fatalities	0
Injuries	0
Survivors	335(all)

Background

Further information: Maharashtra floods of 2005

On 26 July 2005, heavy rains contributed to flood across Mumbai and the state of Maharashtra, bringing the entire city and state to a standstill. The heavy floods caused airport disruptions due to flood water entering the runways and taxiways, which caused shutting down and cancellation of several flights. The airport resumed operations on 28 July 2005, once water levels receded and once the runway equipment was operational.

Aircraft

The aircraft used for the flight was a Boeing 747-400, MSN 24199 and L/N 739, and was delivered new to Korean Air in July 1989. Powered by four Pratt & Whitney PW4000 engines, the aircraft was leased to Air India in November 2002, and returned to Korean Air in March 2006. The aircraft was converted to cargo in August 2006, and was retired by Korean Air in February 2012, where it was under the ownership of Boeing Aircraft Holding Company. In March 2013, Evergreen International Airlines purchased the aircraft, before finally putting it back to storage at Pinal Airpark in November 2013 after Evergreen ceased operations due to bankruptcy.

Incident

Flight 127 was a regular scheduled flight between Bangalore(now Bengaluru) to Chicago with stopovers at Mumbai and Frankfurt. On 30 July 2005, the flight departed from Bangalore at 5:25 AM IST, with a delay of more than 2 hours due to weather conditions. The plane was carrying 315 passengers and 20 crew members, bound for their destinations, which were Mumbai, Frankfurt and Chicago.

At 6:55 AM IST, the aircraft was cleared to land at Mumbai airport, and it landed at runway 14/32, as main runway was not available due to unavailability of navigational aids for runway 09/27 and unusable ILS. However, as the plane touched down, the wet runway caused the plane to skid, and it caused the plane to lose control. The nosewheel landing gear hit some of the runway lights at the end of the runway before getting stuck in the slushy ground at the end of runway 32. There were no fatalities among the passengers and crew but the plane was immobilized as it was stuck in the slushy area after the runway pavement and could not move despite the efforts of the flight crew.

Aftermath

Following the incident, emergency crews rushed to the plane, and were able to evacuate and rescue the passengers and crew, who were taken to the Terminal 2. The damage to the runway lights meant that runway 14/32 was kept out of service. The main runway 09/27 was subsequently used. As a result of the incident, several inbound flights were diverted to different airports.

An alternative Boeing 747-400 was arranged for the next legs of the flight, with 408 passengers and crew, as some passengers boarded from Mumbai. The Mumbai-Frankfurt leg of the flight took off at 12:05 PM IST, after a delay of more than 4 hours.

The aircraft was taken to the maintenance hangar by Air India maintenance crew to assess the damage after the landing. Following the incident, Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel commented that the pilots did not apply full brakes to avoid skidding on the wet runway. Although the flight crew estimated that the plane would come to a stop before the end of the runway, they did so, but the nosewheel went out of the runway by a few feet, which hit and damaged the runway lights. Patel however stated that the runway 14/32 was safe for operations despite being short in length for large aircraft when compared to runway 09/27 which was longer.

As of September 2024, Air India continues to use flight number 127, but the route has been changed from Delhi to Chicago O'Hare using a Boeing 777-300ER.