On October 24, 1965 fellAir-India flight 171 nearbyof the Mont Blanc in Franceaway . All 48 people on board died. The machine, a Boeing 707 calledKanchenjung, was on the way from Bombay (now Mumbai) to London with stopover in Beirut and Geneva. But what should have been a routine stages has developed into one of the most scary and previously unexplained disasters in aviation history.
The last moments
When the machine approached Geneva, the air traffic control instructed the pilot to start falling. However, the plane came off the course and headed directly to the Mont Blanc massif. Eyewitnesses reported onestrange sound, which reminded of a dull blow or a metallic crack, just before the machine disappeared from the radar.
Investigators reveal disturbing information
Initial studies indicatedA misunderstanding in navigationthere . The pilots were allegedly sent out of outdated weather and route information, and some suspected that theAltitude settingsPossibly wrong, so the crew believed to fly higher than it actually was.
But the mystery deepened through two terrifying details:
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The noise: Several residents in the area reported that they had one shortly before the impactstrange soundHeard – not the typical roar of a nozzle engine or an explosion, but something unknown and mechanical.
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Chance: In an almost incredible turn, 16 years earlier, 1950,the same placeAnother Air India flight falled into Mont Blanc. All 48 passengers died – includingHOMI J. BHABHA, India’s leading nuclear scientist. The scary similarities between the two crashes still give rise to conspiracy theories.
Conspiracy theories and unanswered questions
Some suspect that flight 171 issabotaged, possibly to hinder Indian scientific progress or political matters. The sudden loss of radio contact, the bizarre sound and the eerie place have fueled decades of speculation. Others suspect a possible mechanical defect orA malfunction of the instrumentsDuring the flight, although a clear cause could never be detected.
The legacy
To date, the crash of Air India flight 171 is one of the greatest unresolved tragedies of aviation. The combination ofhuman failure, outdated technology and mysterious last momentsstill employs both the families of the victims and aviation historians.
Was it a tragic accident – or was it more behind it? The strange sound before the impact may never be completely explained, but his echo still echoes over the snow -covered peaks of Mont Blanc.