Pokhara plane crash: Airport had no instrument landing system

NEW DELHI: The Pokhara Regional International Airport where an aircraft that crashed was going to land, did not have a functioning instrument landing system that guides planes to the runway, an official said on Thursday. The twin-engine ATR 72-500 aircraft of Yeti Airlines crashed killing all 72 aboard before landing at the newly opened international airport, on January 15. Aviation safety experts said it reflects Nepal’s poor air safety record, although the cause of the accident has not been determined. Jagannath Niroula, spokesperson for the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN), said Pokhara International Airport's instrument landing system will not be working until February 26, for 56 days, after the airport began operations on January 1. An instrument landing system helps aeroplanes fly safely when the pilot is unable to maintain visual contact with surrounding obstacles and the ground, mainly due to weather conditions or at nighttime. Pilots can also fly by sight rather than relying on instruments. Pilots say in-flight visibility problems are common in Nepal and it can be a difficult place to fly, but conditions at the time of the crash were good, with low winds, clear skies and temperatures well above freezing. While it is still not clear what caused the crash, some aviation experts say video taken from the ground of the plane's last moments indicated it went into a stall, although it's unclear why. Amit Singh, an experienced pilot and founder of India's Safety Matters Foundation, said the lack of an instrument landing system or navigational aids could be a ‘contributory cause’ of the crash and pointed to a ‘notoriously bad air safety culture in Nepal’. "Flying in Nepal becomes challenging if you don't have navigational aids and puts an extra workload on the pilot whenever they experience problems during a flight," Singh said. "Lack of an instrument landing system only reaffirms that Nepal's air safety culture is not adequate." Yeti Airlines said the plane's cockpit voice recorder will be analysed locally, but the flight data recorder will be sent to France. Both were retrieved on Monday. The twin-engine ATR 72-500 aircraft was flying from Kathmandu to Pokhara, 200 kilometres (125 miles) to the west, when it plummeted into a gorge as it was approaching the airport. The crash site is about 1.6 kilometres (one mile) from the runway at an elevation of about 820 metres (2,700 feet). [caption id="attachment_32450" align="alignnone" width="1000"] Locals watch the wreckage of a passenger plane in Pokhara, on Sunday, January 5, 2023. Photo: AP via RSS[/caption] The crash is Nepal's deadliest since 1992, when a Pakistan International Airlines plane ploughed into a hill as it tried to land in Kathmandu, killing all 167 people on board. There have been 42 fatal plane crashes in Nepal since 1946, according to the Safety Matters Foundation. A 2019 safety report from CAAN shows that the country's ‘hostile topography’ and ‘diverse weather patterns’ were the biggest dangers to flights in the country. The European Union has banned airlines from Nepal from flying to the 27-nation bloc since 2013, citing weak safety standards. In 2017, the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) cited improvements in Nepal's aviation sector, but the EU continues to demand administrative reforms. Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal met with bereaved families on Thursday and asked hospital authorities to expedite the remaining autopsies of some victims so their bodies can be handed over to their families. Authorities said it was taking time to identify several bodies that were badly burned. By RSS/AP READ ALSO:

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