Flight Safety Information September 25, 2011 - No. 197 In This Issue Nepal tourist plane crashes near Kathmandu killing 19 Preliminary Accident Information Nepal tourist plane crashes near Kathmandu killing 19 Witnesses said the plane was on fire and broke up as it fell (BBC) A small plane has crashed in Nepal killing all 19 people on board, officials say. The Buddha Air plane was carrying 16 tourists to view Mount Everest and other peaks and was returning to the Nepalese capital. One person was rescued alive and taken to hospital but died of his injuries. Tourism Secretary Ganeshraj Joshi said there had been 10 Indians on board, two Americans, a Japanese citizen and six Nepalis, including the three-man crew. The privately-operated Beechcraft-made 1900D aircraft lost contact with the control tower at 07:31 (02:46 GMT) local time. The cause of the crash is still being investigated. Local TV stations reported that witnesses saw flames coming from the plane just before it went down in foggy weather in Godavari, several kilometres from Kathmandu. One eyewitness said the plane had hit the roof of a house in Bisankunarayan village before breaking up. Police spokesman Binod Singh told Reuters that all the bodies had been recovered by ground search teams but that bad weather had prevented helicopters from landing. "Once the helicopters land, we'll bring all bodies to Kathmandu and take them to the Teaching Hospital for post-mortem," he said. Aviation accidents involving small aircraft are not uncommon in mountainous Nepal. Last December, all 22 people travelling in a small passenger plane were killed when it crashed east of Kathmandu. In August 2010, a plane heading for the Everest region crashed in bad weather killing all 14 people on board, including four Americans, a Japanese national and a British national. Back to Top Preliminary Accident Information Status: Preliminary Date: 25 SEP 2011 Time: 07:31 Type: Beechcraft 1900D Operator: Buddha Air Registration: 9N-AEK C/n / msn: UE-295 First flight: 1997-11-01 (13 years 11 months) Engines: 2 Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A-67D Crew: Fatalities: 3 / Occupants: 3 Passengers: Fatalities: 16 / Occupants: 16 Total: Fatalities: 19 / Occupants: 19 Airplane damage: Written off Airplane fate: Written off (damaged beyond repair) Location: near Kathmandu-Tribhuvan Airport (KTM) (Nepal) Phase: Approach (APR) Nature: Domestic Scheduled Passenger Departure airport: Kathmandu-Tribhuvan Airport (KTM) (KTM/VNKT), Nepal Destination airport: Kathmandu-Tribhuvan Airport (KTM) (KTM/VNKT), Nepal Narrative: A Beechcraft 1900D passenger plane, operated by Buddha Air, struck terrain while on approach to Kathmandu-Tribhuvan Airport (KTM), Nepal. There were total of 16 tourists and 3 crew members on board. Initial reports say there was one survivor, but this person died on the way to the hospital. The weather was overcast with very low clouds on the approach. Flights were operating normally under VFR rules at the time of the accident. The Beech 1900 was on the base leg of the approach following a sightseeing flight. Weather reported about the time of the accident (07:31 LT / 01:46Z): METAR VNKT 250050Z 00000KT 6000 -RA FEW010 SCT020 OVC100 20/19 Q1013 METAR VNKT 250150Z 00000KT 6000 FEW010 SCT025 OVC100 20/19 Q1014 METAR VNKT 250250Z 00000KT 4000 BR FEW010 SCT020 BKN100 22/19 Q1014 NOSIG= www.aviation-safety.net Curt Lewis, P.E., CSP CURT LEWIS & ASSOCIATES, LLC