KATHMANDU (AFP) - A small passenger plane crashed on landing Wednesday morning in Nepal's Everest region, killing 18 people believed to be mostly German tourists, Nepalese officials said.

"A Yeti Airlines plane has crashed at Lukla airport while it was landing," said airport official Mohan Adhikari.

Of the 19 passengers on the plane, 14 were foreigners and five were Nepalese and only one Nepalese survived, said Adhikari.

"Twelve German and two Swiss people were on the passenger manifest, and we are trying to confirm this as the passengers may have changed," said Adhikari.

The aircraft, flying from Kathmandu to Lukla in eastern Nepal, caught fire after it crashlanded on the sloping airstrip, said Suraj Kunwar, a local journalist at the scene.

"It took locals and security forces about two hours to put out the fire," said Kunwar.

When the weather is clear, dozens of flights land daily at Lukla's Tenzing-Hillary airport, the gateway to Nepal's Everest region used by thousands of trekkers and mountaineers
  

 Source: Yahoo News

 ( http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20081008/wl_asia_afp/nepaltourismaccidentaviationgermany;_ylt=AlbOagIoLZyodp1SpszC1MABxg8F)

This is certainly not the news we would expect when Dashain is at our door step.

May be departed souls rest in peace!

This is certainly not the news anyone would expect when Dashain is at your doorstep.

May the departed souls rest in peace!

साह्रै दुखद समाचार!

my the souls rest in peace...

Bichara haru- RIP

so sad. I am scared to fly in those planes too. like a roller coaster up and down.

very sad news.  May the departed souls rest in peace!

May the departed souls rest in peace.

May their souls rest in peace.

More details here:

http://www.yetiairlines.com/press_room.php?section=press&action=show&press=14

and photos here:

http://www.nettavisen.no/verden/article2283434.ece

I've flown on Yeti Airline's 9N-AFE (the plane that crashed) into Lukla, and wandered around the runway end, so this hits close.

A few questions to think about though:

(1) Should not an airport with the amount of traffic Lukla gets (20+ flights a day) have a working fire engine sitting on standby that can drive down to the end of the runway end at a moment's notice?   (Yes I know you can't drive one to Lukla, but it could be flown in by helicopter).  Two hours to put out the fire on a burning twin otter... I'm sure people were trying there best, but it still sounds like it took way too long.  There might still have been many gravely injured, but had the fire been put out within a few minutes it might have saved a few lives. 

(2) If there was sudden fog, then the landing should have been aborted.  As long as the aircraft is not on the ground there is space to make a sudden right turn, gain altitude, and fly south (towards where the valley is more open).... and then the pilot could have circled around and waited for the visibility to improve.  (Yes there is space to circle near Lukla... I've seen upto 3 aircraft circling while the runway was congested).  And if the visibility did not improve the plane should have flown its load of grumbling passengers back to Kathmandu.

It seems that most domestic air crashes in Nepal are a result of taking risks with the weather...  flying through clouds with poor locational judgement, and then hitting terrain (Everest Air to Bharatpur, the two Skyline crashes, Lumbini and Shangrila crashes between Jomsom and Pokhara,  the helicopter in Taplejung, Necon Air hitting the Dahachowk communication tower...).  Either the aircraft need to be equipped with MUCH better navigational instruments (similar to what is used on flights into Juneau (Alaska) and Linzhi (Tibet), or the CAA has to start taking a closer look at flights that took risks, fining airlines for risky behavior even if that did not result in a crash!

 

 

 

 

we need to make nepal aviation system better. we need to upgrade all the existing facilities and NOT doing silly things like sacrificing goat to sky GOD.

this is sad day for nepal.