February 14, 1990.
146 souls on board, 94 died including both pilots. The flight originated in Bombay and was in VFR conditions and preparing for landing on runway 09 at Bangalore.
The 2 man crew preparing to land at Bangalore selected the "Idle /Open descent mode" during the final descent leg. In this mode, the engines are at idle thrust. The airspeed decayed to 25 knots below Vref (132 knts) with the A320 at maximum angle of attack, and minimum airspeed. Recovery from this condition was not timely. Alpha Floor was activated. Shortly after, the throttles were advanced to the TOGA position.
Idle/Open descent mode is used during descent from altitude and was incorrectly applied. The normal final descent mode is "Vertical Speed" or "Flight path angle" mode with the flight director off. When in the correct mode, the autothrust system is in "speed mode" and will maintain the selected airspeed.
The flight path angle became steeper and the aircraft made a hard
landing 2300 feet short of the runway onto a golf course. A post crash
fire ensued.