NAC aircraft missing, feared crash

A Nepal Airlines 19-seater Twin Otter flying from Pokhara to Jumla has been reportedly missing with 15 passengers and three crew since today afternoon.

The de Havilland DHC-6-300 Twin Otter registration 9N-ABB performing flight RA-183 departed from Pokhara at 12:43 for Jumla but the radio contact was lost after 30 minutes, while the pilot tried to divert the aircraft to Bhairahawa due to bad weather.

The pilot had last asked Bhairahawa airport tower at 13:13 that he is trying to divert as the weather condition is not good. The crew members did not reported any technical snag. Three crew members included pilot Shanker Shrestha, co-pilot Rabindra Banjara and air hostess Muna Maharjan.

The plane had arrived in Pokhara from Kathmandu in the course of regular flight to Jumla, according chief of Pokhara Airport Pratap Babu Tiwari.

NA has a routine flight from Pokhara to Jumla once a week on Sundays.

The missing plane was originally scheduled to land in Jumla at 1:45 pm but is feared having crashed.

The missing aircraft had not been traced till late evening even as tracking of mobile phone of captain Shrestha showed that the plane could have met with an accident somewhere in Maruwakot area of Arghakhanchi district.

Minister without portfolio Dr Ram Sharan Mahat reached the Search and Rescue Office at the Tribhuvan International Airport Sunday evening to inquire about the ongoing search and rescue efforts.

"Maruwakot of Arghakhanchi is the likely accident site," he wrote on Twitter after holding a meeting with the officials concerned. "Bad weather hampering search works."

A team of 150 Nepal Army and police, along with the locals, have not yet reached the suspected crash site in a remote area of Khidim in Argakhanchi district.

The rescue personnel including the police and locals have been trying to reach the suspected crash site at the corner of three districts – Gulmi, Palpa and Argakhanchi – but in vein as the bad weather condition has been preventing them.

Two separate choppers of Fishtail Air and Nepal Army have been deployed to search the missing aircraft could not locate the plane due to bad weather conditions, according to Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal that has  late in the evening called of the search operations due to poor visibility in the area.

The aircraft has one Danish citizen and an infant among the passengers.

Nepal Airlines – then Royal Nepal Airlines – had introduced two Twin Otters in early 1971. The same aircraft with a call sign 9N-ABB missing today had met with an accident at Jumla airport in July 1992 but has been in operation after repair.

The aircraft had

Three crew members
Captain Shanker Shrestha
Co-Pilot Rabindra Banjara
Air Hostess Muna Maharajan

15 Passengers
IM Sejuwal – NC Politician  
Gauri Kathayat – Journalist

Dr IB Pokharel
ID Shrestha
N Mahatara
D Mahatara
T Mahatara
BP Upadhyay
U Tamang
RP Devkota
R Chaulagain
D Shahi
D  Neupane
An infant (name not known)
including a Danish national IM Matheisen

EU blacklist and Nepali Sky

KATHMANDU: The incident again highlighted safety concerns about the aircraft. Recently, the European Union (EU) had blacklisted Nepali aircraft to fly to European sky citing poor safety record, though non of the Nepali airlines fly to Europe at present. However, the country has suffered a number of air crashes in recent years mostly attributed to inexperienced pilots, poor management and maintenance.

The hijack history
KATHMANDU: The aircraft missing today was the same aircraft that Nepali Congress (NC) activists hijacked in on on June 10, 1973 and took to Farbesgunj in India to fund the anti-Panchayat movement. One of the architect of the hijack is the incumbent prime minister Sushil Koirala, who had also been jailed in India for his involvement in the hijack. The aircraft was ferrying money from Nepal Rastra Bank's Biratnagar office to Kathmandu, when Nepali Congress leasders including Durga Subedi and Umesh Giri hijacked it and landed in Farbesgunj.

Only one aircraft left for domestic flight

KATHMANDU: The ailing national flag carrier that once had a dozen aircraft for its domestic and international flights have left with only one aircraft for domestic flight from today. The feared crashed Twin Otter and another one were in operation as the two aircraft have been waiting for the engines. The Nepal Airlines had recalled for tender to supply engine for the two aircraft recently. It has been buying aircraft from China – which is suspected to be one of the key reasons behind the EU blacklisting – in grants and loan. However, the aircraft will arrive on April 16 only. Till then the airlines has to reduce its flights in the domestic market.

Apart from new aircraft, reform must to keep NAC afloat

Buying new aircraft alone cannot save the ailing national flag carrier, according to the experts.

Addressing the 55^th anniversary of Nepal Airlines Corporation (NAC), here today, they were little hopeful of keeping the corporation afloat with the new aircraft as much as the need of organisational reform of the corporation that has become fragile due to regular political bickering and over staffing, apart from lack of fresh blood with new vision, mission and goal.

Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Ram Kumar Shrestha, on the occasion, said that the corporation must reform itself to remain afloat in growing competition among the international and domestic airlines or it would die.
He also suggested the corporation to buy two more wide body aircraft to compete with the growing international aviation industry.

Likewise, secretary at Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation, Sushil Ghimire also claimed that two wide body aircraft would help expand the ever shrinking market of NAC.

However, the corporation has last week signed Purchase Agreement for two narrow body aircraft with Airbus expecting to regain its lost glory.
According to Ghimire, the Tourism Ministry has also formed a committee to bring organisational reform at NAC.
The corporation is also planning to bring two aircraft on dry lease by the end of 2013 for international flights and purchase two MA-60 and four Y-12 aircraft from China for domestic flights and also to expand its fleet that has been shrinking recently.
NAC has been surviving on two ages old Boeing on international route and one aircraft on domestic route. Of the two Boeing, only one can be on operation as the other one is on maintenance, alternatively. 

With addition of two narrow body aircraft from Airbus, NAC should also plan to fly to the US and Australia and restart its flights to Sanghai and Frankfurt, suggested the employees, on the occasion.

Once upon a time, NAC used to fly Boeing 757-200 aircraft to Frankfurt in 1987, to the United Kingdom in 1989 and to Paris in 1993. It also used to fly to Mumbai in 1992, Banglore in 2000, Osaka in 1994 and Sanghai in 1994 during its heydays, when it used to have a fleet of 20 aircraft including two 757 Boeing, two Boeing 727, three Avro, 10 twin otter and three Pilatus porter aircraft, according to the corporation.

Political bickering grounds national flag carrier

Frequent political bickering has hit the national flag carrier hard, making it unable to compete in either international or domestic routes.

"The smooth operations of Nepal Airlines Corporation (NAC) has been hurt due to regular political bickering," said minister for culture, tourism and civil aviation Ram Kumar Shrestha speaking at an interaction here in the Valley today.
The ailing national flag carrier has been operating its two age-old Boeings — of which one has to be sent for C Check and casual maintenance alternatively leaving only one Boeing for operation that forces it to reduce its routes frequently — for international flights, whereas it is fast losing its market share in the domestic sector too.

Without adequate number of aircraft, NAC has been not only unable to compete with around two dozen international airlines flying to Nepal but is also losing its market share to them.

Likewise, NAC had been flying to more than 25 destinations inside the country but with only two aircraft left, after the crash of its Twin Otter last Thursday at Jomsom airport, the corporation has no choice but to reduce domestic flights too.

Like other government enterprises, NAC has fallen victim to frequent political interference, he said, adding that neither could it add any aircraft for international routes nor domestic routes, losing its market share, where at one time it had a monopoly. "From the delay in purchasing aircraft for NAC to appointing a chief executive at Nepal Tourism Board (NTB), politicisation of government enterprises has hit the tourism sector hard."

However, the former bureaucrat turned minister said that he would not play a waiting game. "If Nepal Tourism Board fails to reach any conclusion to appoint a chief executive, I will take the decision myself," Shrestha added. The longer it takes to appoint a chief at NTB and purchase aircraft for NAC, the fewer will be the tourist inflow in the country, he added.

In recent months, tourist arrivals have seen a continuous drop, due to lack of effective tourism promotion and aircraft with the national flag carrier. Visitor arrivals in April dropped by 8.9 per cent compared to the same month last year, according to NTB.

Shrestha also slammed trade unionism for destroying the tourism industry.

According to him, he will expedite the construction of the Pokhara regional international airport, development of Lumbini area, purchase of aircraft for national flag carrier and appointment of chief executive at NTB.

Despite the huge potential in the tourism sector, the country has not been able to market it due to lack of vision and investment, the minister said.

Joint secretary at the ministry Purnachandra Bhattarai, on the occasion, said that the government has completed preparations for the Diamond Jubilee celebration of the first ascent of Mt Everest on May 29. "The Himalayas are a prominent tourist destination and we must promote them to benefit," he added.

Tourism entrepreneur Ang Tshering Sherpa urged the government to expedite tourism marketing. "The government and political parties have not yet recognised the importance of tourism," he added. Likewise, tourism entrepreneur Ram Sharan Thapaliya blamed political parties and their sister organisations for forced donation drives that had diverted tourists from Nepal.

NAC aircraft skids runway, passengers survive with injuries

A Nepal Airlines Corporation (NAC) Twin Otter today morning skidded off the runway and plunged into the Kali Gandaki river banks but the passengers survived with injuries.
Though, there were no casualties reported, the crew members including pilot Capt Deependra Pradhan, co-pilot Suresh KC and air hostess Santa Maya Tamang and two Japanese passengers were seriously injured.
The injured crew members were airlifted by Tara Air to Gandaki Hospital, whereas Dynasty Air chopper air lifted Japanese passengers directly to the Manipal hospital in Pokhara. The pilot and copilot were, however, flown to Teaching Hospital, Maharajgunj in Kathmandu by Dynasty Air chopper at around 1.30 pm as they were more critically injured.
It was the second and chartered flight of the ill-fated aircraft 9N–ABO DHC6 that had 22 passengers, including three crew members, eight Japanese, 10 Nepali passengers and a child.
According to the police, the wheel of the plane touched the runway but that the aircraft veered toward the right and crashed on the banks of the Kaligandaki. "The front portion of the plane was destroyed but the rear part remained intact," they said, adding that the left wing remained submerged in the river. Rescuers were able to pull the injured passengers and crew from the plane.
The Dynasty Air chopper airlifted all the passengers — in three rounds — including cabin crews for the first aid, after which the Japanese passengers have been in contact with their embassy in Kathmandu.
The aircraft overrun the runway after it landed at the Jomsom airport at around 8.40 in the morning. The Canadian-built Twin Otter aircraft had done its first flight today morning at 6:15 from Pokhara to Jomsom.
The aircraft might have skidded off on the mountainous airstrip due to the sudden fog and mountain wind in the Jomsom area that is 200-km northwest of the capital Kathmandu.
Today's crash reminded of another air crash a year ago in May 14, 2012 when an Agni Air aircraft crashed into a hill near the Jomsom airport, killing 15 people on board.
Meanwhile, the government has formed a four-member investigation committee led by former director general of Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) Ram Prasad Neupane. The committee — that has senior pilot of Tara Air Prabhakar Ghimire, senior aironautical engineer Meghendra Kumar Shrestha and joint secretary at the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Buddhi Sagar Lamichhane as members — will investigate and present its report within two months.
The Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation has promised to work on making the domestic sky safer.
However, the Jomsom Airport — the only airport in Mustang district at an elevation of 8,800 feet above the sea level — is surrounded by mountains and landing at the airport is somewhat risky compared to other airports. 



NAC has only one aircraft for domestic flight
KATHMANDU: The ailing Nepal Airlines Corporation has, now, left with only one Twin Otter as it had recently called for tender to change the engine of three of its Twin Otter aircraft. "The changing of engine of these aircraft will take minimum of three months," according to a source at the corporation that will now be dependent on only one aircraft for the domestic flights. It had been flying to more than 25 destinations inside the country. "The domestic flights will have to be rearranged and reduced," he added.