Bangladeshi plane crashes in Nepal, killing at least 49

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Bangladeshi plane crashes in Nepal, killing at least 49

By Gopal Sharma

 

Wreckage of an airplane is pictured as rescue workers operate at Kathmandu airport, Nepal March 12, 2018. REUTERS/ Navesh Chitrakar

 

KATHMANDU (Reuters) - At least 49 people were killed on Monday when a Bangladeshi airliner crashed in cloudy weather as it came in to land at the Nepalese capital's hill-ringed airport, officials said.

 

The chief executive officer of US-Bangla Airlines, Imran Asif, accused Kathmandu's air traffic control for giving wrong signals.

 

But airport general manager Raj Kumar Chettri said the pilot disregarded their messages and came in from the wrong direction.

 

Seventyone people were on board the plane arriving from Dhaka when it clipped the fence at Kathmandu and burst into flames, Chettri said.

 

There were 33 Nepali passengers, 32 from Bangladesh, one from China and one from the Maldives. (Graphics on 'Deadly plane crash in Nepal' -

 

"All of a sudden the plane shook violently and there was a loud bang," one of the survivors, Basanta Bohora, told the Kathmandu Post daily. "I was seated near a window and was able to break out of the window."

 

The accident was the latest to hit mountainous Nepal, which has a poor record of air safety. Small aircraft ply an extensive domestic network and often run into trouble at remote airstrips.

 

"So far 49 people are dead and 22 are undergoing treatment at different hospitals," Sanjiv Gautam, executive director of the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN), told reporters.

 

Several people were rescued from the burning wreckage of the Bombardier Q400 series aircraft and are undergoing treatment at hospitals, army spokesman Gokul Bhandari said.

 

Chettri said that moments after the plane received permission to land, the pilot said he wanted to go in a northern direction. Asked by the control tower if there was a problem, he replied in the negative.

 

The plane was then seen making two rounds in a northeast direction, Chettri said. Traffic controllers again asked the pilot if things were OK, and he replied, "Yes".

 

The tower then told the pilot his alignment was not correct, but there was no reply, Chettri added.

 

"The plane should have come from the right direction," Chettri said, adding that it hit the airport fence, touched the ground and then caught fire.

It was not immediately clear if the pilot had issued a "Mayday" call, or distress signal.

 

US-Bangla Airlines' Asif, however, said that wrong signals might have led to the crash.

 

"A three-minute conversation between the pilot and the air traffic control before the landing indicated that they sent wrong signal to the pilot," he told reporters in Dhaka.

 

SERIES OF ACCIDENTS

 

Many of the bodies that lay on the tarmac, covered with cloth, were charred, witnesses said. Thick plumes of smoke could be seen from the aircraft at the Tribhuvan International Airport.

 

Those on board include 12 Nepali tour agents who were returning after an annual sales conference in Bangladesh, an official said.

 

The aircraft that went down on Monday was 17 years old, data from tracking website Flightradar24.com showed. It descended to an airport altitude of 4,400 feet (1,341 m) and then climbed to 6,600 feet (2,012 m) before crashing about two minutes later, the website said.

 

Bombardier said on Twitter it was saddened by the accident.

 

"Our thoughts are with those injured, and their families," it said.

 

There have been a series of accidents at Kathmandu in the past.

 

In March 2014, a flock of birds shattered the windshield of a Malaysia Airlines <MASM.KL> jet as it landed in Kathmandu. The same month, a rear wheel of an Airbus A320 operated by an Indian budget airline caught fire after landing.

 

In 2012, a plane carrying trekkers to Mount Everest region hit a bird and crashed in Kathmandu, killing all on board.

 

In 1992, all 113 people aboard were killed when a Thai Airways flight from Bangkok crashed while trying to land in Kathmandu.

 

US-Bangla Airlines is a unit of the US-Bangla Group, a U.S. Bangladeshi joint venture company.

 

The two pilots and two cabin crew were Bangladeshi nationals, airline spokesman Kamrul Islam said in Dhaka.

 

"Our team will fly to Nepal as soon as the airport is open," he added. "We are in touch with Nepali authorities."

 

The Bangladeshi carrier, which launched operations in July 2014 with a slogan - "Fly Fast-Fly Safe", operates Bombardier and Boeing <BA.N> aircraft.

 

(Additional reporting by Navesh Chitrakar; Ruma Paul in DHAKA; Sudarshan Varadhan and Aditi Shah in NEW DELHI; Writing by Krishna N. Das; Editing by Angus MacSwan)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2018-03-13

[InMyShadow]

Reported the pilot flew into the opposite run way heading so looking at the pics he crashed and overshot the runway due to a tail wind.

Sad part most would have burned on impact as the speed would have been negligible

[Credo]

It would be quite ironic if Premchai, the panther killer, was on the plane, making his  escape.

 

RIP to the victims.   

[CharlesSwann]

Apparently the southern approach is called Runway 02 and the northern approach is called Runway 20 (it's the same runway). Conversation between the pilot and air traffic control from the black box indicates confusion over which runway to use on account of these names, resulting in the pilot  making unorthadox last-moment manoevres that seems to have caused the bad landing.

 

Very unfortunate and seemingly quite avoidable. Blame should go to the idiots who decided to call the runways 02 and 20. Recipe for confusion.

Edited March 13, 2018 by CharlesSwann

[rvaviator]

Apparently the southern approach is called Runway 02 and the northern approach is called Runway 20 (it's the same runway). Conversation between the pilot and air traffic control from the black box indicates confusion over which runway to use on account of these names, resulting in the pilot  making unorthadox last-moment manoevres that seems to have caused the bad landing.
 
Very unfortunate and seemingly quite avoidable. Blame should go to the idiots who decided to call the runways 02 and 20. Recipe for confusion.

Runway numbers are orientation 20 degrees and 200 degrees - 180 degree opposite ...

Maybe best orientation for wind and land ...

Land two zero or land zero two ...




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[CharlesSwann]

10 minutes ago, rvaviator said:

Runway numbers are orientation 20 degrees and 200 degrees - 180 degree opposite ...

Maybe best orientation for wind and land ...

Land two zero or land zero two ...
 

Thank you. Interesting to know.

"Land two zero" versus "land zero two" though... quite idiotic and asking for trouble. I could come up with a better system.

 

[InMyShadow]

1 hour ago, CharlesSwann said:

Thank you. Interesting to know.

"Land two zero" versus "land zero two" though... quite idiotic and asking for trouble. I could come up with a better system.

 

Nonsense your clueless. this is the most basic thing the pilots had to do all day. there are thousands of runways world wide that have published IFR plates both for precision and non precision approaches that rely 100% on the correct runway heading with similar numbers..You cant just change it to something else !  Here is an example

http://www.uvairlines.com/admin/resources/VNKT.pdf

 

Absolute pilot error and almost unbelievable!! I can only think that they were well outside of permissible flight time and were extremely tired and if thats the case the airline has a lot of explaining to do.

Edited March 13, 2018 by InMyShadow

[rvaviator]

Thank you. Interesting to know.
"Land two zero" versus "land zero two" though... quite idiotic and asking for trouble. I could come up with a better system.
 

Would be interesting to know what system you would come up with ....

On a side note .... when I got my private pilots licence ... many many years ago ... then you needed 40 hours before you could take your test at 40.5 myself and my instructor felt I was ready ...

Examiner arrived on the day ....we did all we had to do ... turns, stalls etc etc ...we simulated getting lost and then I had to get back to another airport. I did everything right ... I did a perfect landing at this other airport ... ( the guy in the tower knew I was flying for my exam ... )when I rolled out on the runways he came on the radio and said ... perfect landing ... shame it was at the wrong end !! (Direction)

I failed my flight test ;-) my instructor slapped me around my ears :-) what a stupid mistake to make ... Anyway ... I flew with the examiner back to the main airport - perfect landing ... and he said at the debrief .. I have to fail you .. but everything else you did was perfect ... I did another 2 or 3 hours ... and then took the test again .. same examiner ... that time no issues :-) ... I was 19 at the time ...

Now bit older ;-)




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[CharlesSwann]

8 hours ago, rvaviator said:

 

Would be interesting to know what system you would come up with ....
 

A nomenclature that doesn't involve similar-sounding phonemes that can be easily confused over garbled or less-than-pristine radio transmission in emergency conditions by non-English-speaking operators with their Babel of different accents. The system would be based on empathic psychological and common sense, which the current system isn't.