by the pilot-in-command, a violation of the Alitalia Operations Manual. Flight 771 first made communications with Bombay Flight Information Center at 17:20, during which the flight requested a weather forecast for landing, as well as stating their estimated time of arrival to be 18:45 and their altitude to be . Between the times of 17:30 and 17:47 they were informed of the local weather forecast; Various weather reports for Bombay at the time of the accident indicated that there was light rain but no thunderstorms or other dangerous conditions. At 18:20 the flight switched to the Bombay approach frequency and requested to initiate descent when over the point of Aurangabad to an altitude of . The descent was approved and the weather information provided was acknowledged. The flight initiated descent at 18:24:36 UTC, descending from approximately twenty minutes before it was due to land at Bombay with an ETA at 18:45. At 18:25 the flight was cleared to take a transition level of . Weather information was transmitted again at 18:28:04, with the QNH at 29.58 inches. At 18:29 the air traffic controller was informed of the flight's preference to land on runway 27. At 18:38:34 the flight was asked if it would be making a 360° over the beacon or landing in directly. At 18:38:49 the flight only replied "OK" leading to some confusion as to which approach would be taken. The flight clarified shortly thereafter that it would make a 360° over the outer beacon. At 18:38:54 the DC-8 reached an altitude of 5,000 feet; the flight plan provided by Alitalia prescribed a descent to Bombay in 13 minutes. The flight continued descending further to , well below the minimum safety altitude at as well as below the minimum initial approach altitude. The last communication heard from the aircraft was at 18:39:58 again confirming the 360° over the beacon. The DC-8 crashed into Davandyachi hill on a bearing of 240°. The wreckage of the aircraft was found scattered among trees on the hill with the remains of the cockpit altimeter at an altitude of , only short of the top. The DC-8 was completely destroyed and all persons aboard perished in the crash. Causes Investigators explored several potential causes, including: navigational errors which led the pilot to believe that he was nearer to his destination than he actually was; failure to maintain the recommended safe altitude; and pilot