When a Tara Air flight crashed into a Himalayan mountain at an altitude of about 14,500 feet on Sunday, it was Nepal’s 19th plane crash in 10 years and the 10th deadliest in the same period, according to the base. air safety network data.
While investigators are still sharing exactly what happened – the black box was recovered on Tuesday, airport officials told CNN – experts say conditions such as varying weather patterns, poor visibility and topography They contribute to Nepal’s reputation as a notoriously dangerous place to fly.
On this particular occasion, bad weather is believed to have played a major role, Binod BK, a Nepalese Interior Ministry official, told CNN. Pokhara’s weather forecast at the time, according to Nepal’s Department of Hydrology and Meteorology, was “generally cloudy with brief showers”.
The Tara Air plane took off on Sunday morning from the city of Pokhara, in central Nepal, and was about halfway through its 25-minute flight to the popular tourist destination of Jomsom when it lost contact with air traffic control. , said the Nepal Civil Aviation Authority.
Bad weather, poor visibility and the loss of daylight hampered the initial search and rescue operation by the Nepalese army, but helicopters sent into the mountainous terrain on Monday helped locate remains of the alleged site. accident and the first bodies were found. Army photos and videos show wreckage of the plane scattered on the ground.
On Tuesday, despite bad weather, lifeguards announced that they had recovered all the bodies.
“Hostile Topography”
Variable weather patterns are not the only problem for flight operations. According to a 2019 safety report from the Nepal Civil Aviation Authority, the country’s “hostile topography” is also part of the “huge challenge” that pilots face.
Nepal, a country of 29 million people, is home to eight of the 14 highest mountains in the world, including Everest, and its beautiful rugged landscapes make it a popular tourist destination for hikers.
But this terrain can be difficult to navigate from the air, especially during bad weather, and things are made worse by the need to use small planes to access the more remote and mountainous parts of the country.
Aircraft with 19 seats or less are more likely to have accidents as a result of these challenges, according to the Civil Aviation Authority report.
The capital of Kathmandu is the main transit hub of Nepal, where many of these small flights depart.
Lukla City Airport, in northeastern Nepal, is often known as the most dangerous airport in the world. Known as the gateway to Everest, the airport runway is located on a cliff between mountains, and eventually falls straight into an abyss.
Lack of investment in aged aircraft only increases the risk of flight.
In 2015, the International Civil Aviation Organization, a United Nations agency, gave priority to assisting Nepal through its Air Security Implementation Assistance Association. Two years later, ICAO and Nepal announced a partnership to solve security problems.
While the country has made improvements to its security standards in recent years, there are still challenges.
In 2016, a Tara Air flight crashed while flying the same route as the plane that got lost on Sunday. That incident involved a newly acquired Twin Otter plane flying in clear conditions. And in early 2018, a US-Bangla Airlines flight from Dhaka to Kathmandu crash-landed and caught fire, killing 51 of the 71 people on board.
CNN’s Teele Rebane, Sugam Pokharel and Elizabeth Yee contributed.