Nepal's Safety Record

[Norman Wells]

The aviation industry in Nepal has a less than enviable record having notched up its third major accident within six months to the end of December, 2010.
Initial newspaper reports about a 300 series Twin Otter impacting a 9,000 foot mountain, shortly ATO on 15th December, 2010, were interesting.
An internal investigation team within Tara Air, however, feels the tip of the aircraft’s left wing could have hit the mountain and caused the crash.
There was initial speculation that bad weather caused the crash. The chief executive of Tara Air, Vijay Shrestha, said: “It showed poor visibility at different levels of the atmosphere. Thick haze at lower levels and as thick a cloud higher up could have caused poor visibility”
There was also speculation that the aircraft could have been overloaded, but Shrestha refuted these allegations. “The aircraft’s maximum take-off weight is 12,500 pounds, while the Twin Otter’s take-off weight that crashed killing all 22 on board was 12,280 pounds,” he said. “So it was underweight by 220 pounds, the allegation is wrong.
The airport at Lamidanda, Nepal is 4,100 ft (1,250 m) amsl and 1,699 feet (518m) in length.
Purely as a matter of interest, what is the MTOW for a 300 series Twin Otter from the above airport, assuming ISA?