NAC forcing pilots to fly ‘unsafe’ plane?

The troubled national flag carrier, Nepal Airlines Corporation (NAC), has hit yet another snag. After a technical glitch on Saturday, it cancelled all its flights till Tuesday. The reason: Short-circuit due to water leakage in the cargo compartment.But the aircraft is scheduled to fly to Hong Kong tomorrow at 8.30 pm. However, captain SR Shrestha, who was to fly the Boeing 757 aircraft, Karnali, to Hong Kong on Saturday, claims that the aircraft is still technically unsafe to fly.
“The reason given is not satisfactory. All the wiring should be checked thoroughly,” he argues adding that it’s wise to inform the Boeing company, get clearance from it and be sure of the real reason. “The aircraft should be safe for us and for the passengers. Patch up work will not help,” he adds.
Captain RB Shrestha, operation director at the NAC, however, confirms that the aircraft will not fly until it’s safe. “We are conscious of safety as it’s the only asset we have,” he adds. Most of the pilots are against flying ‘the unsafe’ aircraft.
However, Gautam Das Shrestha, managing director of NAC, says NAC never compromises on safety. “The aircraft will fly only after a complete safety check,” he confirms adding that pilots would not be forced to fly an aircraft unless it’s properly fixed.
But the pilots do not buy that argument as they had faced such situation earlier and had flown under pressure. “Without proper rectification, we had to fly under pressure in May to Dubai, where the aircraft was grounded for five days,” captain YK Bhattarai of that flight remembers.
“We have only one aircraft in operation at the moment. We are faced with increased passenger pressure. So everybody is under pressure but the safety should not be compromised,” he adds.NAC has only two ageing Boeing 757 aircraft and one aircraft has gone for checks in Brunei currently.
“The aircraft is checked every year and the grounded aircraft was checked only eight or nine months ago. If there was problem it should have been fixed then,” captain Shrestha says.
NAC had bought Karnali on lease in 1987 and Gandaki in 1988.