Nepal plane hits parked helicopter while taking off, killing three

By Gopal Sharma

 

The site of an airplane crash is pictured in Lukla, Nepal April 14, 2019. Ang Tashi Sherpa/Handout via REUTERS.

 

KATHMANDU (Reuters) - A small plane operated by a private airline in Nepal hit a parked helicopter on Sunday while preparing to take off in a mountainous area near Mount Everest, killing three people including a co-pilot, an airport official said.

 

The Twin Otter aircraft crashed into the helicopter at Tenzing Hillary Airport at Lukla, known as the gateway to the world's highest mountain, 125 km (78 miles) northeast of capital Kathmandu.

 

The plane, operated by Summit Air, was not carrying passengers as it was trying to leave what is considered to be one of the world's most dangerous airports due to the shortness of its runway and its location surrounded by mountains.

 

Officials said the cause of the incident was not immediately known.

 

"Two people died on the spot and the third one died while undergoing treatment in a hospital in Kathmandu," airport official Pratap Babu Tiwari told Reuters.

 

The dead included two security guards who were near the helicopter. The pilot of the plane was among three people injured, though the lone stewardess escaped unhurt.

 

Air crashes are common in mostly mountainous Nepal, home to eight of the world's 14 highest mountain peaks, including Mount Everest.

 

In February a helicopter carrying seven people including the country's tourism minister crashed in bad weather in eastern Nepal, killing seven all on board.

 

The Lukla airport was built by New Zealand mountaineer Sir Edmund Hillary - who together with Sherpa Tenzing Norgay became the first to reach the 8,850-metre (29,035-foot) Everest peak in 1953 - as a gift to the people of the remote Solukhumbu region where it is located.

 

In 2008, another Twin Otter plane carrying 16 passengers and three crew crashed shortly before it was due to land at Lukla.

 

(Reporting by Gopal Sharma; Editing by Krishna N. Das and Jan Harvey)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2019-04-15

This is Lukla Airport with its short sloping runway that ends with a steep drop into a mountain valley.

 

From YouTube:

 

 

Not a Twin-Otter !

 

A Summit Air Let L-410UVP-E20 Turbolet ( 9N-AMH ) impacted a Manang Air Eurocopter AS 350B3e helicopter (9N-ALC) during a takeoff attempt at Lukla-Tenzing-Hillary Airport in Nepal.

5 hours ago, webfact said:

The plane, operated by Summit Air, was not carrying passengers as it was trying to leave what is considered to be one of the world's most dangerous airports due to the shortness of its runway and its location surrounded by mountains.

Not forgetting reduced takeoff performance at high altitude.

i have taken off from that airport.

it is a very scary experience.

i remember the captain coming back and looking at all of us

and then pointing to a big fat German man sat at the back

and telling him to come and sit at the front.

it is not only the short runway with the sheer drop

but also you are heading straight for the other side of a valley

and need to bank sharp left to get into clear air.

this guy looks like either there was a strong cross wind or

he had an engine failure.

 

9 hours ago, Burma Bill said:

This is Lukla Airport with its short sloping runway that ends with a steep drop into a mountain valley.

 

And this was Lukla in 1994 or 1995, cannnot remember which trip this was taken on, probably the first in 1994

Both photos would have been taken from what would be the middle of the aircraft parking area now

It was a dirt strip then and you used to be able to walk down to the end, and see how close some of the tyre marks from landing were to the edge. On my second trip I made sure i got the centre seat front row so that I could see through the open cockpit door on the approach, straight at the hillside !

Edited April 15, 20197 yr by MikeN