Nepal crash: Airport had no instrument landing system
The newly opened airport in Nepal where a Yeti Airlines plane was attempting to land when it crashed over the weekend, killing all 72 on board, did not have a functioning instrument landing system that guides planes to the runway, an official said Thursday. Aviation safety experts said it reflects the Himalayan country’s poor air safety record, although the cause of the accident has not been determined. Jagannath Niroula, a spokesperson for Nepal’s Civil Aviation Authority, said Pokhara International Airport’s instrument landing system will not be working until Feb. 26 -- 56 days after the airport began operations on Jan. 1. An instrument landing system helps airplanes 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 mountainous Nepal, where in-flight visibility problems are common, 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’s 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 analyzed locally, but the flight data recorder will be sent to France. Both were retrieved Monday.<br/>
https://portal.staralliance.com/cms/news/hot-topics/2023-01-20/unaligned/nepal-crash-airport-had-no-instrument-landing-system
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Nepal crash: Airport had no instrument landing system
The newly opened airport in Nepal where a Yeti Airlines plane was attempting to land when it crashed over the weekend, killing all 72 on board, did not have a functioning instrument landing system that guides planes to the runway, an official said Thursday. Aviation safety experts said it reflects the Himalayan country’s poor air safety record, although the cause of the accident has not been determined. Jagannath Niroula, a spokesperson for Nepal’s Civil Aviation Authority, said Pokhara International Airport’s instrument landing system will not be working until Feb. 26 -- 56 days after the airport began operations on Jan. 1. An instrument landing system helps airplanes 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 mountainous Nepal, where in-flight visibility problems are common, 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’s 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 analyzed locally, but the flight data recorder will be sent to France. Both were retrieved Monday.<br/>
