Posted by: Arnico October 8, 2008
18 dead in Nepal plane crash
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May their souls rest in peace.

More details here:

http://www.yetiairlines.com/press_room.php?section=press&action=show&press=14

and photos here:

http://www.nettavisen.no/verden/article2283434.ece

I've flown on Yeti Airline's 9N-AFE (the plane that crashed) into Lukla, and wandered around the runway end, so this hits close.

A few questions to think about though:

(1) Should not an airport with the amount of traffic Lukla gets (20+ flights a day) have a working fire engine sitting on standby that can drive down to the end of the runway end at a moment's notice?   (Yes I know you can't drive one to Lukla, but it could be flown in by helicopter).  Two hours to put out the fire on a burning twin otter... I'm sure people were trying there best, but it still sounds like it took way too long.  There might still have been many gravely injured, but had the fire been put out within a few minutes it might have saved a few lives. 

(2) If there was sudden fog, then the landing should have been aborted.  As long as the aircraft is not on the ground there is space to make a sudden right turn, gain altitude, and fly south (towards where the valley is more open).... and then the pilot could have circled around and waited for the visibility to improve.  (Yes there is space to circle near Lukla... I've seen upto 3 aircraft circling while the runway was congested).  And if the visibility did not improve the plane should have flown its load of grumbling passengers back to Kathmandu.

It seems that most domestic air crashes in Nepal are a result of taking risks with the weather...  flying through clouds with poor locational judgement, and then hitting terrain (Everest Air to Bharatpur, the two Skyline crashes, Lumbini and Shangrila crashes between Jomsom and Pokhara,  the helicopter in Taplejung, Necon Air hitting the Dahachowk communication tower...).  Either the aircraft need to be equipped with MUCH better navigational instruments (similar to what is used on flights into Juneau (Alaska) and Linzhi (Tibet), or the CAA has to start taking a closer look at flights that took risks, fining airlines for risky behavior even if that did not result in a crash!

 

 

 

 

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