Investigation Summary
The accident occurred during a routine route check for Captain Fernandez, who was being evaluated by Captain Gopujkar. During the visual approach to Runway 09, the crew found themselves slightly above the glide path. To correct this, Captain Gopujkar intended to select a vertical speed of 700 feet per minute. However, he likely turned the altitude knob instead of the vertical speed knob, setting '700' in the altitude window. Because the aircraft was currently at a higher altitude, this action inadvertently engaged the 'Open Descent' mode. In this mode, the autothrust maintains engines at idle to reach the selected altitude as quickly as possible. The situation was exacerbated because the crew had not set the go-around altitude of 6,000 feet as required; instead, the system was now targeting 700 feet. The pilots became preoccupied with the Flight Directors and the aircraft's unexpected behavior, failing to notice the decaying airspeed. By the time Captain Fernandez realized they were dangerously low and applied Take-Off/Go-Around (TOGA) thrust, the engines could not spool up from idle in time to clear the boundary of the Karnataka Golf Club.
Final Conclusions
The Court of Inquiry concluded the primary cause was the failure of the pilots to realize the gravity of the situation and respond by moving the throttles, even after radio altitude call-outs of 400, 300, and 200 feet. The Indian government specifically noted that Captain Gopujkar likely accidentally selected 700 feet with the altitude knob instead of the vertical speed knob, which triggered the 'Open Descent' mode. The investigation noted that the crash could have been avoided if the crew had switched off both Flight Directors (only one was turned off), manually taken control of the thrust, or correctly set the FCU altitude to the go-around height of 6,000 feet. The 'Open Descent' mode's behavior was poorly understood by the crew, contributing to their confusion during a critical phase of flight.
Video Analysis
CRASHED Seconds Before Landing - Indian Airlines 605 — A detailed reconstruction of the final minutes of Flight 605, exploring how a misunderstanding of the A320's automation led to a fatal descent into a Bangalore golf course.
If playback is blocked, the owner has disabled embedding — use the link above.
Airframe & Maintenance
Crew Experience
Captain
Captain Cyril Fernandez, Pilot Flying. He was undergoing a route check.
Check Captain
Captain Satish Gopujkar, Pilot Monitoring. He was the examiner for the flight.
Systems & Failure Modes
Open Descent Mode
A flight guidance mode where the aircraft descends to a selected altitude with engines at idle thrust, using pitch to maintain airspeed.
Flight Control Unit (FCU)
The interface used by pilots to input target altitudes, speeds, and headings into the autopilot and flight director systems.
Autothrust
The system that automatically manages engine power; in this case, it held the engines at idle because of the active vertical mode.
Interesting Facts
- 01The aircraft was a nearly new Airbus A320, only 5 months old with 370 airframe hours.
- 02The crash was the first major accident involving an A320 in regular passenger service.
- 03The engines were in 'flight idle' for the final 25 seconds of the flight.
- 04The Karnataka Golf Association course is located approximately 0.7 km west of the Bangalore-Hindustan Airport.
- 0592 of the 146 people on board were killed, primarily due to the post-impact fire.
Safety Actions & Advisories
Instrument Knob Design Change
Source ↗The investigation recommended design changes to instrument knobs to prevent accidental mode selections.
ATC Tape Time Recording
A recommendation was made to ensure all Air Traffic Control tapes included synchronized time recordings for better accident reconstruction.
A320 Evacuation Evaluation
The report urged an evaluation of the evacuation doors and slides on Airbus A320 aircraft to improve survival rates in post-crash fires.
Known Controversies & Unanswered Questions
Pilot vs. Machine Interface
Reference ↗The Indian Commercial Pilots' Association (ICPA) argued the A320's systems were overly complex and confusing, contributing to the crew's inability to recognize the idle descent mode in time.