Air India Flight 245 was a scheduled Air India

Air India

Air India is the flag carrier airline of India. It is part of the government of India owned Air India Limited . The airline operates a fleet of Airbus and Boeing aircraft serving Asia, Australia, Europe and North America. Its corporate office is located at the Air India Building at Nariman...

 passenger flight that crashed into Mont Blanc

Mont Blanc

Mont Blanc or Monte Bianco , meaning "White Mountain", is the highest mountain in the Alps, Western Europe and the European Union. It rises above sea level and is ranked 11th in the world in topographic prominence...

, France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

, on 3 November 1950. On the morning of 3 November 1950, Air India Flight 245, flown by the Lockheed L-749A Constellation

Lockheed Constellation

The Lockheed Constellation was a propeller-driven airliner powered by four 18-cylinder radial Wright R-3350 engines. It was built by Lockheed between 1943 and 1958 at its Burbank, California, USA, facility. A total of 856 aircraft were produced in numerous models, all distinguished by a...

 Malabar Princess (registered VT-CQP), carried 40 passengers and 8 crew on the route Bombay-Cairo

Cairo

Cairo , is the capital of Egypt and the largest city in the Arab world and Africa, and the 16th largest metropolitan area in the world. Nicknamed "The City of a Thousand Minarets" for its preponderance of Islamic architecture, Cairo has long been a centre of the region's political and cultural life...

-Geneva

Geneva

Geneva In the national languages of Switzerland the city is known as Genf , Ginevra and Genevra is the second-most-populous city in Switzerland and is the most populous city of Romandie, the French-speaking part of Switzerland...

-London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

. Over France, it crashed into Mont Blanc, killing all on board.

The accident

The last transmission from the aircraft, received by controllers at Grenoble and Geneva, was "I am vertical with Voiron

Voiron

Voiron is a commune in the Isère department in south-eastern France.- History :Voiron long formed part of Savoy, but in 1355 was exchanged by the count with France for Faucigny and Gex.Historical population:* 1901: 12,625- Geography :Voiron stands at a height of 950 ft., on the Morge Voiron...

, at 4700 meters altitude." at 10:43 a.m.

The "Malabar Princess" hit the face of the Rochers de la Tournette 4677 m (15,344 ft) on the French side of Mont Blanc. Debris was located by a Swiss plane, but stormy weather prevented rescue parties from reaching it until November 5. There were no survivors.

Sixteen years later, Air India Flight 101

Air India Flight 101

Air India Flight 101 was a scheduled Air India passenger flight that crashed into Mont Blanc in France on the morning of 24 January 1966.-Accident:...

 crashed in almost exactly the same spot.

Pop-culture references

• The crash inspired a 1952 novel in French, La neige en deuil, by Henri Troyat.
• The 1956 film The Mountain
  The Mountain (1956 film)
  The Mountain is a 1956 dramatic film starring Spencer Tracy and Robert Wagner. The supporting cast included Claire Trevor, Richard Arlen, William Demarest, and Anna Kashfi...
  
   starring Spencer Tracy
  Spencer Tracy
  Spencer Bonaventure Tracy was an American theatrical and film actor, who appeared in 75 films from 1930 to 1967. Tracy was one of the major stars of Hollywood's Golden Age, ranking among the top ten box office draws for almost every year from 1938 to 1951...
  
   based on the above novel La neige en deuil.
• In the 2001 movie Amélie
  Amélie
  Amélie is a 2001 romantic comedy film directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet. Written by Jeunet with Guillaume Laurant, the film is a whimsical depiction of contemporary Parisian life, set in Montmartre...
  
  , the title character reads a newspaper article about alpinists finding, by chance, a mailbag on Mont-Blanc and later realizing it came from the Malabar Princess that crashed 40 years earlier. This news inspires Amélie to do good to the lonely concierge, by faking a final love letter from her late husband, supposedly found inside that mailbag.
• The 2004 movie Malabar Princess
  Malabar Princess
  Malabar Princess is a 2004 French film directed by Gilles Legrand. The film is about a young boy called Tom, who is sent to live with his grandfather in the French Alps after his mother disappeared during an excursion with her husband, Pierre, in the French Alps...
  
    is about a young boy called Tom, who is sent to live with his grandfather in the French Alps after his mother dies in a skiing accident. He becomes friends with Benoit, and the two search for the remains of the Malabar Princess.

Statistics

• Sixth loss of a Lockheed L-749.
• At the time, the second-worst accident involving a Lockheed L-749. (Currently, the third-worst.)
• At the time, the worst air accident that had occurred in France. (Currently, the thirteenth-worst air accident.)