Yeti Airlines Flight 101

Yeti Airlines Flight 101 was a domestic flight in Nepal, that crashed on final approach to Tenzing-Hillary Airport in the town of Lukla in eastern Nepal on 8 October 2008. The De Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter Series 300 registered as 9N-AFE originated from Tribhuvan International Airport in Kathmandu.[1][2]

Yeti Airlines Flight 101
9N-AFE at Lukla in 2007
Accident
Date8 October 2008
SummaryControlled flight into terrain due to pilot error and inclement weather
SiteLukla Airport, Nepal
27°41′13″N 086°43′47″E
Aircraft
Aircraft typeDe Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter
OperatorYeti Airlines
Registration9N-AFE
Flight originKathmandu Airport, Nepal
DestinationLukla Airport, Nepal
Occupants19
Passengers16
Crew3
Fatalities18
Injuries1
Survivors1

Aircraft

The aircraft involved in the crash was a de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter operated by Yeti Airlines. Its maiden flight was in 1980 with Bristow Helicopters. The aircraft entered into service in Nepal in 1997, when Lumbini Airways acquired the plane. In 1998, Yeti Airlines bought the plane. In 2006, it already met with a minor incident, when the aircraft collided with a fence upon landing in Bajura Airport. It was involved in another incident, when the aircraft veered off the runway at Surkhet Airport in 2007.[3]

Crew and passengers

Fourteen of the dead were reported to be tourists. Twelve of the passengers on the flight were German and two Australian. The only survivor was Surendra Kunwar, the captain of the aircraft, who was dragged free from the wreckage shortly after the crash and was flown to Kathmandu for emergency treatment.[1][4][5]

Nationality Fatalities Survivors Total
Passengers Crew Passengers Crew
Nepal 1 2 – 1 4
Germany 12 – 0 – 12
Australia 2 – 0 – 2

The pilot, being the only survivor, suffered psychological problems in the aftermath and was admitted to a psychiatric hospital.[6]

Crash

The airport is the main access to the Mount Everest region in Nepal, and is a notoriously difficult landing, with only 1,500 feet (460 m) of steeply sloped runway just 65 feet (20 m) wide and a steep approach path.[7]

Due to bad weather conditions and heavy fog, the pilot lost visual contact, nevertheless attempted a visual approach, as there are no Instrument landing systems installed at Lukla. The aircraft came in too low and too far left, which caused the aircraft to crash short of the runway, as the landing gear got caught in a perimeter fence on airport grounds.[8]

Investigation

A commission was formed to investigate the accident, the final report being published two months later. However, the report only came to wider attention when The Aviation Herald retrieved a copy of it in 2017. The report blamed the crash on the flight crew's misinterpretation of how fast the weather would deteriorate and their expectation of a cloud patch on final approach, which had been reported by previous flights landing in Lukla. Contributing factors included the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal and Yeti Airlines both having a poor oversight of pilots deviating from standard operation procedures, the failure of the Automatic Flight Information Service personnel to close the airport as a result of a high work load and stress, and Yeti Airlines going as far as to prioritize economics over safety, leading to improper crew training.[9]

Aftermath
Yeti Airlines Flight 101 Memorial

The safety regulations at Lukla airport were enhanced and landings in bad weather restricted. A plaque was put up near the crash site and the local people celebrate the victims' memory every year on 8 October.[6]

References
  1. Wildermuth, Urs (8 October 2008). "Crash: Yeti Airlines DHC6 at Lukla, on Oct 8th 2008, crashed on runway". avherald.com. The Aviation Herald. Archived from the original on 6 December 2012.
  2. "Tourists die in Nepal air crasht". BBC. 8 October 2018. Retrieved 1 October 2018.
  3. "9N-AFE". Twin Otter Archive. Retrieved 1 October 2018.
  4. Bloomberg: Nepal Plane Crash Kills 18; Most Were German Tourists 8 October 2008
  5. Matt Johnston, David Hastie "Everest plane crash claims Australian couple" Archived 11 December 2008 at the Wayback Machine Herald Sun 9 October 2008
  6. "Tod von zwölf Deutschen: Der Horror-Crash von Lukla" [Death of twelve Germans: The Lukla horror crash] (in German). Leipziger Volkszeitung. 6 October 2018. Retrieved 9 October 2018.
  7. "Everest plane crash kills 18 tourists in Nepal" Archived 11 October 2008 at the Wayback Machine Agence France-Presse 8 October 2008
  8. "Plane Crash Near Everest Kills 18". New York Times. 8 October 2018. Retrieved 1 October 2018.
  9. "AIRCRAFT ACCIDENT INVESTIGATION REPORT, YETI AIRLINES DOMESTIC PVT. LTD., DHC-300 (TWIN OTTER) 9N-AFE, AT TENZING-HILLARY AIRPORT, LUKLA, ON 8TH OCTOBER, 2008" (PDF). Aircraft Accident Investigation Commission, Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal. Archived (PDF) from the original on 10 August 2018. Retrieved 2 February 2022 – via The Aviation Herald.
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