The Nepalese aviation regulator has banned helicopters from conducting non-essential flights, comprising mostly sight-seeing for two months after the death of six Mexicans and the pilot in a helicopter crash near Mount Everest.
On July 12, 2023, the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) has restricted the following types of flights till the month of September 2023. The flights include mountain flights, external load operations, also called sling flights and the showering of flowers by helicopters.
Nepal, which is in the midst of the annual June to September monsoon season, has formed an investigation committee to find out the main reason behind the helicopter crash that occurred on July 11, 2023. The helicopter was from Manang Air Service.
The Himalayan Nation of Nepal, home to eight of the world’s tallest mountain peaks, including Mount Everest, has a set history of air crashes as many airlines operate and fly to small airports in remote hills and near the peaks often shrouded by clouds.
In Nepal’s deadliest aviation disaster in a span of three decades, a total of 68 passengers out of the 72 people flying in Yeti Airlines lost their lives in a plane crash near Pokhara International Airport in Kathmandu. The airline also carried fifteen foreign tourists apart from the four-member crew that flew the aircraft.
Nepal’s air transport sector has been plagued by accidents mostly due to poor maintenance, poor and insufficient training, and lax standards. The country also has many tricky and remote runways with approaches flanked by towering mountains that challenge even the best and elite pilots.
On May 29, 2023, a twin otter plane operated by Nepali carrier Tara Air Crashed shortly after takeoff from Pokhara in western Nepal, killing 22 people. Similarly, on February 27, 2019, a helicopter crashed in eastern Nepal, killing all passengers onboard, including the tourism minister of the country.
On March 12, 2018, a flight from the Bangladeshi capital of Dhaka crash-landed at the Kathmandu Airport, skidding into a football field where it burst into flames and 51 people were killed in this unfortunate incident. A similar plane crash occurred on February 24, 2016, when a Twin-Otter operated by Tara Air crashed into a hillside in Myagdi District, killing all 23 people on board.
In an unfortunate incident, a Nepal Airlines flight crashed in Arghakhanchi District, where the rescuers found body parts and debris strewn across the mountainous countryside. In the year 2012, two air accidents were reported, one on September 28 when a plane flying to Mount Everest carrying 19 passengers killed everyone on the board, including seven British and five Chinese nationals.
The incident on May 14, 2012, saw the death of 15 people when an Agni Airplane carrying Indian Pilgrims crashed at Jomsom, a treacherous high-altitude airport in Northern Nepal, while six made a miraculous escape. A small plane carrying tourists for sightseeing in Mount Everest crashed into a hillside in Kathmandu, killing all 19 passengers onboard, was reported on September 25, 2011.
Two more crashes took place in 2010, one on December 15, where 22 passengers and crew members were killed in a crash near Eastern Nepal. Most of the victims were pilgrims from Bhutan, with one US citizen dead. The second crash took place in August 2010 when another Agni Airlines plane crashed due to bad weather in Kathmandu, killing all fourteen people on board, including four Americans, one British and one Japanese citizen.
On September 28, 1992, all 167 passengers onboard a Pakistan International Airline (PIA) lost their lives when it crashed on approach to Kathmandu, in Nepal’s worst-ever air accident that occurred. According to the data from the Aviation Safety Database, there have been 27 deadly air crashes in Nepal over the past three decades, killing a total of 700 people.
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