The first officer, who appears to have been the pilot flying, was killed in the impact with the spinning rotors of the first helicopter, a Manang Air H125, which had just landed. I hope the surviving officer was paying attention and can eventually tell us what happened.The Let 410 has a mode selector for either MANUAL or PEDAL nosewheel steering. Lukla is the gateway to Mount Everest and Nepal’s Khumbu space. I’ll write a follow-up once the final report is released.Yikes… I’m a plane buff from way back and I would have confused the two… That Twin Otter needs invasion stripes… :)The altitude of the airport alone would have presented a challenge. Manual steering is via a tiller on the left-seat control column.

The first officer, who appears to have been the pilot flying, was killed in the impact with the spinning rotors of the first helicopter, a Manang Air H125, which had just landed.

There’s also a third, self-steering mode mentioned in the “L410 Flight Manual” (which would be the nose wheel castering?

No climbing experience is required; the only prerequisite for a climbing permit is a doctor’s note confirming the applicant is physically fit (and money). The crash-landing of a passenger plane at Kathmandu airport that killed 49 people has put Nepal's aviation safety record in the spotlight once again. On May 22, a climber snapped a photo from a line with dozens of hikers in colorful winter gear that snaked into the sky.You can click through on this Tweet to see the photo.Yesterday, in a moment of confusion, I posted this crash as breaking news with a link to a badly-written article. There were no passengers on the aircraft and the helicopter passengers, government officials, had just disembarked.
None of this explains why the aircraft suddenly veered to the right.The flight data recorder and the cockpit voice recorder have been recovered but no further details have been released. These are external links and will open in a new windowThree people have died in a plane crash in Nepal, at what is regarded as one of the world's most dangerous airports.The plane veered off the runway and hit a stationary helicopter at Lukla Airport, the main gateway to the Everest region.The runway is short and surrounded by mountains, making it extremely difficult for takeoff and landing.The pilot of the plane and two police officers standing near the helicopter died. I know nothing! The rudder pedals must be “neutral” when switching to pedal mode, or the light won’t come on (and apparently the mode won’t engage). This video of the impact was taken by airport CCTV (if you can’t play the videos, try The aircraft was departing for its third flight of the day to Manthali Airport to pick up trekkers and climbers who had flown in from Kathmandu hoping to scale Mount Everest.As the gateway to Mount Everest, Lukla Airport is the busiest short-take-off-and-landing (STOL) airports in the world. But with nosewheel steering still in taxi mode, the aircraft might suddenly build some yaw momentum before the FO could react. Despite this, the airport had over 10,000 flights transporting over 60,000 passengers in and out in 2016 and that number is increasing every year.The Let L-410 Turbolet is well-suited for such an environment: the twin-engine transport aircraft can operate in extreme conditions and can take off in just 510 metres and land in 500 (1,640 feet).

There were three fatal accidents in 2018 and the Nepali Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation was killed in a helicopter crash earlier this year.I have previously written about two fatal crashes in Nepal, both aircraft landing at Kathmandu:Everest and the climbing industry brings US$300 million to Nepal every year, through tourism and the $11,000 fee for a climbing permit. (courtesy Fawlty Towers). But with nosewheel steering still in taxi mode, the aircraft might suddenly build some yaw momentum before the FO could react. This airport lies in the elevation of nearly 9,338 feet (2846 meters) with a little descent before landing. ).In light of this, it seems improbable to me that the nose wheel could have been turned as much as it apparently was while being steered with the pedals. It goes to show that even highly trained pilots can run into trouble.

On May 22, a climber snapped a photo from a line with dozens of hikers in colorful winter gear that snaked into the sky.You can click through on this Tweet to see the photo.Yesterday, in a moment of confusion, I posted this crash as breaking news with a link to a badly-written article. Exactly two months ago in Nepal, a Let L-410 Turbolet veered off the runway while taking off from Tenzing-Hillary (Lukla) Airport and crashed into two helicopters.