Background
Indian Airlines flight IC491 was a scheduled passenger service from Delhi to Bombay with intermediate stops at Jaipur, Udaipur, and Aurangabad. The aircraft involved was a Boeing 737 with registration VT-ECQ. The flight from Delhi to Aurangabad was uneventful.
Accident
The aircraft departed Aurangabad with 118 persons on board. During takeoff, the aircraft lifted off almost at the end of the runway. It then impacted heavily with a lorry carrying pressed cotton bales traveling on a highway approximately 410 feet from the runway end. The left main landing gear, left engine bottom cowling, and thrust reverser struck the left side of the truck at a height of about seven feet above road level. Subsequently, the aircraft hit high-tension electric wires located nearly 3 kilometers northeast of the runway and then impacted the ground. A post-impact fire destroyed the aircraft.
Casualties and Damage
Fifty-five persons on board received fatal injuries. The aircraft was destroyed by the post-impact fire.
Investigation
The official investigation attributed the probable cause of the accident to two factors: pilots' error in initiating late rotation and following a wrong rotation technique, and failure of the NAA to regulate mobile traffic on the Beed road during the flight hours.