On October 24, 1965, Air India Flight 171 crashed near Mont Blanc in France. All 48 people on board perished. The aircraft, a Boeing 707 named Kanchenjunga, was en route from Bombay (now Mumbai) to London with stops in Beirut and Geneva. What should have been a routine flight turned into one of the most eerie and unresolved disasters in aviation history.

The Final Moments

Air India Plane Crash Involved 169 Indians, 53 Britons, 1 Canadian, and 7 Portuguese – Aviation A2Z

As the plane approached Geneva, air traffic control instructed the pilots to begin their descent. However, the aircraft veered off course, heading straight toward the Mont Blanc massif. Eyewitnesses reported hearing a strange sound, described as a dull thud or metallic snap, just before the plane disappeared from radar.

Investigators Uncover Disturbing Clues

Air India Plane Crash: Why Couldn’t AI-171 Take Off? Here’s What Happened – YouTube

Initial investigations pointed to a navigational misunderstanding. The pilots were allegedly provided with outdated weather and route information, and some speculated that the altimeter settings may have been incorrect, leading the crew to believe they were flying higher than they actually were.

But the mystery deepened with two chilling details:

• The Sound: Several locals reported hearing an unusual sound shortly before the crash—not the typical roar of jet engines or an explosion, but something unknown and mechanical.
• The Coincidence: In an almost unbelievable twist, 16 years earlier, in 1950, another Air India flight had crashed at nearly the same location on Mont Blanc. All 48 passengers perished, including Homi J. Bhabha, India’s leading nuclear scientist. The eerie similarities between the two crashes continue to fuel conspiracy theories.

Conspiracy Theories and Unanswered Questions

Air India Flight 171 Crash in Ahmedabad: What the Ministry of External Affairs Said About the “Tragic Accident” That Shocked India – The Economic Times

Some suspect that Flight 171 was sabotaged, possibly to hinder India’s scientific or political progress. The sudden loss of radio contact, the bizarre sound, and the eerie location have fueled decades of speculation. Others suggest a possible mechanical failure or instrument malfunction during the flight, though no definitive cause has ever been proven.

The Legacy

To this day, the crash of Air India Flight 171 remains one of aviation’s greatest unsolved tragedies. The combination of human error, outdated technology, and mysterious final moments continues to captivate the families of the victims and aviation historians alike.

Was it a tragic accident—or was there something more sinister at play? The strange sound before the crash may never be fully explained, but its echo still reverberates across the snow-covered peaks of Mont Blanc.