KATHMANDU, Sept 26: Two hundred and one persons have lost their lives in Nepal in 22 domestic plane accidents, including Sunday´s Buddha Air crash, since the country adopted Liberal Aviation Policy in 1992 to pave way for the emergence of private sector in domestic air transport.
Eighteen of the planes in the 22 accidents over the intervening 19 years were operated by private sectors.
There were no fatalities in seven of the accidents but the rest have resulted in loss of human lives and invariably the aircraft.
So what makes air travel highly risky in Nepal?
Probe committees formed for investigations into the crashes have almost always attributed the crashes to error by pilots. International aviation website aircrashobserver.com had published a report after the Tara Air crash in December, 2010 claiming that most air crashes in Nepal occurred when pilots in command violated civil aviation rules and regulations besides flying under adverse weather conditions.
The report, quoting Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) officials, claimed that pilots would enter clouds even while flying under Visual Flying Rules (VFR) which is applied only under a clear sky that allows the pilot to see where the aircraft is headed. But aviation expert Medani Prasad Sharma opined that the accusation while technically true is not fair on pilots.
“Considering our terrain and the hilly airports-- that are usually approached from between two hills -- we have, it would be virtually impossible to fly a plane without entering the clouds every now and then,” Sharma, who is a former Director General of CAAN, argued.
Hardly any probe committee has blamed mechanical failure for the accidents but Sharma, who has himself led many probe committees, has a different take on the issue. “The investigators have to solely rely on Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR) since most of the small planes like Twin Otter don´t have Flight Data Recorder (FDR) that keeps record of the mechanical functioning of the plane,” Sharma said. “All the technical glitches may not be known to the investigators due to lack of FDR as we also don´t usually opt for expensive tests of engines and other parts for lack of funds,” Sharma explained.
Senior pilot Prafulla Vaidya concedes that the pilots have to ultimately take the responsibility for the plane that is under their control but reminded that the difficult terrain and fickle weather conditions should also be considered before questioning the efficiency of a pilot who has at least six-seven years of experience in flying.
Sharma, who was also the coordinator of the High Level Task Force on Compliance Status of Safety Recommendations by the Past Accident Investigation Commissions, said the Ministry of Civil Aviation has not paid heed to the recommendations for formulating new laws to govern aviation. “Airlines and CAAN have implemented around 75 per cent of the recommendations and are in process of implementing another 20 per cent leaving around five per cent recommendations unattended,” Sharma said referring to the taskforce´s report that was submitted over two months ago.
Though the final responsibility of a crash is on the pilot, Sharma claims that contributing factors like lack of aviation infrastructure, difficult terrain and fickle weather conditions makes life difficult for pilots. “CAAN has to depend on the Department of Hydrology and Meteorology, which doesn´t even have mechanism for weather forecasts in all our airports. In many hilly airports the planes have to be given visual clearance for flights,” Sharma explained.
Air Accidents in Nepal in Past 22 Years
Date / Type / Operator / Fatality
Date / Type / Operator / Fatality
* Sep 25, 2011 / Beechcraft 1900D / Buddha Air / 19
* Dec 15, 2010 / DHC-6 Twin Otter 310 / Tara Air / 22
* Aug 24, 2010 / Dornier 228-101 / Agni Air / 14
* April 19, 2010 / DHC-6 Twin Otter 300 / NAC / 0
* Oct 8, 2008 / DHC-6 Twin Otter 300 / Yeti Airlines / 18
* July 3, 2006 / DHC-6 Twin Otter 300 / Yeti Airlines / 0
* June 21, 2006 / DHC-6 Twin Otter 300 / Yeti Airlines / 9
* June 30, 2005 / Dornier 228-201 / Gorkha Airlines / 0
* May 25, 2004 / DHC-6 Twin Otter 300 / Yeti Airlines / 3
* Aug 22, 2002 / DHC-6 Twin Otter 300 / Shangri-La Air / 18
* Jauly 17, 2002 / DHC-6 Twin Otter 300 / Skyline Airways / 4
* July 27, 2000 / DHC-6 Twin Otter 300 / NAC / 25
* Dec 25, 1999 / DHC-6 Twin Otter 300 / Skyline Airways / 10
* Sept 5, 1999 / British Aerospace BAe-748-501 / Necon Air / 15
* Jan 18, 1999 / Cessna 208 Caravan I / Necon Air / 5
* Aug 21, 1998 / DHC-6 Twin Otter 300 / Lumbini Airways / 18
* Nov 6, 1997 / Avro 748-106 Srs 1 A / Necon Air / 0
* April 25, 1996 / British Aerospace BAe-748-352 / NAC / 0
* Jan 17, 1995 / DHC-6 Twin Otter 300 / NAC / 2
* Nov 8, 1993 / Harbin Yunshuji Y-12-II / Nepal Airways / 0
* July 31, 1993 / Dornier 228-101 / Everest Air / 19
* Sept 26, 1992 / Harbin Yunshuji Y-12-II / Nepal Airways / 0
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