Originally Posted by
Centaurus
Researching old accident reports for an article on airmanship, I chanced on this Boeing 737-200 accident in India some 25 years ago.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alliance_Air_Flight_7412.
Following an unstable approach to land because the aircraft was too high on short final, the PiC acting as PM in the right seat, orderd the PF in the left seat to make a 360 degree turn to lose height with 40 degrees of flap. With the nose high at 15 degrees body angle during the turn, the 737 stalled and crashed into a built up area with no survivors. The accident report makes startling reading
It is difficult to believe any pilot in his right mind would attempt to carry out such a dangerous manoevre instead of simply going around straight ahead.
General operating indiscipline is on view. The Captain was not authorised to sit in right seat nor was copilot cleared to fly from left seat. ATC asked them something (DME arc procedure) but without doing that they continued on their track to intercept localizer which brought them very high. The Captain wanted to do 360 copilot wanted to do something else. Obviously nobody was monitoring speed. A disaster was going to happen and it happened. A 360° turn on finals was forbidden after this crash in India. A tragedy so many people lost their lives.
Last edited by vilas; 29th November 2025 at 14:28.