Air India Flight 245


Air India Flight 245 was a scheduled Air India passenger flight that crashed into Mont Blanc, France on the morning of 3 November 1950.
The plane operating the flight was a Lockheed L-749A Constellation named Malabar Princess, registered VT-CQP. It was piloted by Captain Alan R. Saint, 34, and co-pilot V. Y. Korgaokar. It was carrying 40 passengers and 8 crew on a Bombay-Istanbul-Geneva-London route. While over France, descending towards Geneva Airport, the flight crashed into the French Alps, killing all on board.

Accident

The airplane hit the face of the Rocher de la Tournette at a height of, on the French side of Mont Blanc. Stormy weather prevented immediate rescue efforts; debris was located by a Swiss plane on 5 November, and rescue parties reached the site two days later. There were no survivors. The last transmission from the aircraft, received by controllers at Grenoble and Geneva, was "I am vertical with Voiron, at 4700 meters altitude." at 10:43 a.m.
Sixteen years later, Air India Flight 101 crashed in almost exactly the same spot. In September 2013, a climber discovered a cache of jewelry that is believed to have been aboard one of these two flights.