Charkhi Dadri Mid-Air Collision: The Tragic Plane Crash That Devastated India
Robert Nickelsberg/The LIFE Images Collection/Getty ImagesThe aftermath of the Charkhi Dadri mid-air collision, which left no survivors.
On Nov. 12, 1996, the pilot of a United States Air Force C-141 transport plane glanced out the window while flying over New Delhi, and saw the sky light up with an “orange glow.” According to The New York Times, he recalled seeing “two fireballs” that emerged from a cloud and plummeted to the Earth.
He had just witnessed the Charkhi Dadri mid-air collision, the deadliest mid-air collision of two planes in world history.
The incident occurred around 6:40 p.m. local time. About seven minutes earlier, Saudi Arabian Airlines Flight 763 had taken off from the New Delhi airport, just as Kazakhstan Airlines Flight 1907 was preparing to land. The pilot of the Kazakhstani plane, seemingly misunderstanding instructions from air traffic control, flew his aircraft too far below his assigned altitude — and catastrophically collided with the Saudi plane.
Both planes hit each other while traveling at over 300 miles per hour and dropped out of the sky, crashing near the village of Charkhi Dadri. Though local villagers who responded to the scene found “three or four” people alive in the wreckage, for most, death was instantaneous. And The New York Times reports that the few initial survivors died by the time rescue teams arrived.
Robert Nickelsberg/The LIFE Images Collection/Getty ImagesThe burned wreckage of the destroyed planes after the Charkhi Dadri mid-air collision.
There were 312 people onboard Saudi Arabian Airlines Flight 763, and 37 aboard Kazakhstan Airlines Flight 1907. Everyone perished.
An investigation into the aftermath of the Charkhi Dadri mid-air collision found that it was likely caused by pilot error. The Kazakhstani plane had flown too low, leading to its fatal collision with the Saudi plane.
