A choppy deal

On November 4, 1977, Prime Minister Morarji Desai was flying from Delhi to Jorhat in an Indian Air Force Russian-built Tupolev-124 jet, when the ultimate emergency happened: an aircraft with the PM on board lost power, descending dangerously close to the ground and threatening to plough into the Brahmaputra plain. The pilot, Wing Commander Clarence D’Lima, and four other crewmembers nursed the aircraft along, struggling to keep it airborne as they lined up for the approach to Jorhat airfield.

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