Nepal plane crash: Pilot didn’t report anything untoward, official says

The pilot of the flight that crashed in Nepal did not report "anything untoward" as the plane approached the airport, a spokesman said. Anup Joshi said that the "mountains were clear and visibility was good", adding there was a light wind and "no issue with weather". There were 72 passengers and crew aboard the Yeti Airlines flight from Kathmandu to the tourist town of Pokhara which crashed on Sunday. No one is believed to have survived. It is the country's deadliest plane crash in 30 years. On Monday, fragments of the Yeti Airlines plane were scattered across the riverbank, on both sides, like pieces of a broken toy. One portion of the aircraft lay on its side, the windows still intact. A few metres away, blue airline seats, now mangled. The thick stench of smoke hung in the air, the scorched grass on the bank a reminder of the fireball that engulfed the aircraft after it crash landed. Mobile phone footage showed the plane rolling sharply as it approached the runway. It then hit the ground in the gorge of the Seti River, just over a kilometre from the airport. The pilot asked for a change from the assigned runway 3 to runway 1, which was granted by the airport, Joshi said. "We could operate from both runways. The plane was cleared for landing." It was "very unfortunate" that the incident happened just 15 days after the airport had opened for business, he added.<br/>