Buddha Air Crash Nepal
 

Looks like we have another Nepal crash. Plane missing with 19 passengers, developing story.

Links:
BBC News - Nepal plane missing with foreign tourists on board

Small plane with 19 people crashes in Nepal - Yahoo!

Buddha Air Crash Nepal
 

BBC News - Nepal tourist plane crashes near Lalitpur

:(

1900D of Buddha Air Crashed at around 8 AM local time approximately 20 Km from the airport. Was on the landing segment.

19 People Died. 18 On spot and one in the hospital.

Sad moment for everyone in Nepal.

Capt. Tamrakar, Co-Pilot- Padma Adhikari

Weather?
 

Report said it was foggy. Anyone has access to weather report around the airport?

Sadly it's no longer a 'missing' aircraft, they have located wreckage, and found a survivor but he died onthe way to hospital.

What a tragedy for all concerned and also for that welcoming country, which really needs tourism.

Crash: Buddha B190 near Kathmandu on Sep 25th 2011, impacted terrain

Full story, metars are there as well.

Very sad, Nepal seems to be prone to similar accidents. The mountainous terrain is unforgiving of the slightest navigational error.

The photos show that they were within a few feet of clearing the summit and the lack of significant fire damage leads me to suspect that they may have been low on fuel, possibly stooging around waiting for the fog to break.

Im curious what kit they had on board... Most 1900D's that I have seen are pretty well decked out with GNSS and EGPWS....

If the yellow line drawn in google is the approach track (extended centerline) then they are quite a way off.....

From what I know is that the Mountain Flights are conducted on VFR , however the departure and the arrival maybe conducted on IFR. Looks like they were making a VFR arrival, wouldnt be a IFR approach, and usually the pilots here tend to fly IFR approach on GPS rather than VOR due to regular VOR outage due to power failures. And might have ended too close to the terrain in fog etc.

Buddha Air is considered to the be the safest airline, but...guess the crew ran out of luck.

Also, the copilot was a captain flying with another captain for clearence.

The aircraft is equipped with GPWS and Weather Radar etc. Maybe a miss calculation or a technical issue. Have to wait till the CVR and FDR are checked.

Fuel wouldn't be an issue given they always carry higher fuel plus they is no info about if the aircraft was holding.

Are these aircraft fitted with FDR? I thought only a CVR?

One of my known buddy there said they had an engine failure but he wasnt completely sure about that

They are suppose to be equipped with Type II FDR as per the requirements.

Engine flameout at low altitude could be likely as per my other friend but nothing was declared over to the ATC for the same. As informed by colleague flying in 1900C in the area from anohter airline.

Hopefully the report or initial investigation comes out. But most probably the Civil Aviation and the airline might try to twik the details to save their a**:mad:

Yeah sure, like your mountain flying experience gives you the authority to emit such opinion... :suspect:

?? Not authority just the sharing the information I got. A speculation is what it is called.

But the initial info that came today from the military is that its a case of CFIT. VFR flight trying to dodge the weather(fog) and ended up in the hills.

initial report points towards pilot error - equipment was running normal at impact

I can confirn that Buddah is definitively one, if not the, best operator in KTM. However you can only do that much in that environment. This is not a "mountain" accident is is a 3rd world country accident. With an International airport located inside the capital city valley surrounded by high hills means lots of pollution, smog all year long fueled by ever increasing number of 2-stoke mopeds , very poor visibility , frequent power outages knocking down (sometimes ) the very few nav aids still working , no ILS ( not possible due to excessive glide slope and no money for MLS ), very particular procedures to avoid terrain, etc..

Another aspect is the lack of ground intrastrucure, meaning air transport is vital . Tourism is the first source of income, so tourist flights are also vital. all this leads to commercial pressure . Commercial pressure in a 3rd world environment is deadly. That explains most of the accidents in Nepal. No need to crucify the 2 guys ( or girls, yes, Buddah has female captains ) in front. It is part of the overall daily routine.

I feel sorry for them.

ATC Watcher:

Could not agree with you more. Having worked mostly in First World carriers, where even there the pressure is very high. It is the reason that I avoid third world airlines, especially ones crewed locally.

The VOR approach that exists for that runway (and is typically flown using GPS for greater accuracy) while being more demanding than many is quite capable of ensuring a safe approach and landing provided the crew stick to the rules. Assuming no technical failure in either the ground or a/c equipment this was not a failure of the approach guidance system.

Buddha Air Crash
 

An eye witness said that they saw the aircraft on fire before it crashed. In case of aviation accident, it is always easy to blame the pilot so that rest of the people investigating can do off with an easy answer. It is damn frustrating.