Deadly crash Crash at Kathmandu - Bombardier Dash 8

[Kip Powick]

At least 38 people killed after passenger plane crashes at Kathmandu airport

The Nepal army spokesperson, said 50 people had died and the fate of the others was unknown. But a police official, said at least 38 people had died, 23 had been injured and 10 were unaccounted for.

 

Nepalese rescuers stand near a passenger plane from Bangladesh that crashed at the airport in Kathmandu, Nepal, Monday, March 12, 2018.  (NIRANJAN SHRESHTA / AP)

By BINAJ GURUBACHARYAThe Associated Press

Mon., March 12, 2018

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KATHMANDU, Nepal—A passenger plane carrying 71 people from Bangladesh crashed and burst into flames as it landed Monday in Kathmandu, Nepal’s capital, killing dozens of people with others rushed to area hospitals, officials said.

The death toll remained unclear amid the chaos of the crash and the rush of badly injured victims to nearby hospitals. Brig. Gen. Gokul Bhandari, the Nepal army spokesperson, said 50 people had died and the fate of the others was unknown. But a police official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media, said at least 38 people had died, 23 had been injured and 10 were unaccounted for.

An AP journalist who arrived at the scene soon after the crash saw the US-Bangla Airlines twin-propeller plane broken into several large pieces, with dozens of firefighters and rescue workers clustered around the wreckage in a grassy field near the runway. Hundreds of people stood on a nearby hill, staring down at what remained of the Bombardier Dash 8.

This screengrab of video footage from the Facebook account of Nitin Keyal shows smoke rising from the site of an airplane crash at the international airport in Kathmandu on Monday.   (NITIN KEYAL/AFP/GETTY IMAGES)

The plane swerved repeatedly as it prepared to land in Kathmandu, said Amanda Summers, an American working in Nepal. The crowded city sits in a valley in the Himalayan foothills.

“It was flying so low I thought it was going to run into the mountains,” said Summers, who watched the crash from the terrace of her home office, not far from the airport. “All of a sudden there was a blast and then another blast.”

Fire crews put out the flames quickly, perhaps within a minute, she said, though for a time clouds of thick, dark smoke rose into the sky above the city.

The plane had circled the airport twice as it waited for clearance to land, Mohammed Selim, the airline’s manager in Kathmandu, told Dhaka-based Somoy TV station by telephone.

US-Bangla Airlines operates Boeing 737-800 and smaller Bombardier Dash 8 Q-400 planes.

This picture obtained from the Twitter account of Saroj Basnet shows Nepali rescue workers gathering around the debris of an airplane that crashed near the international airport in Kathmandu on Monday.   (SAROJ BASNET/AFP/GETTY IMAGES)

The airline, part of US-Bangla Group, is based in the Bangladeshi capital, Dhaka, and flies to several domestic and international destinations. The parent company is involved in a number of industries, including real estate, education and agriculture.

Kathmandu’s airport has been the site of several deadly crashes. In September 2012, a Sita Air turboprop plane carrying trekkers to Mount Everest hit a bird and crashed shortly after takeoff, killing all 19 on board.

[blues deville]

I did a three day layover in KTM last fall. Busy place with non-stop turboprop commuter traffic. High elevation airport and in my case requiring special sim training before approval to operate a flight. Upslope runway and very rough surface. Not the ideal place for any kind of inexperienced pilots. Although the initial reports sounds like some kind of directional control problem after landing. 

[DEFCON]

"The plane swerved repeatedly as it prepared to land in Kathmandu, said Amanda Summers, an American working in Nepal"

Wind / terrain related turbulence on approach with crosswind gusts leading to a loss of control after touchdown?

[dagger]

One report says it approached the wrong end of the runway - whatever that entailed? Weather? An emergency? Confusion?

[Airband]

From JACDEC

Quote

Narrative

The DHC-8 crashed on approach to Kathmandu Airport following much confusion over the approach landing runway between pilots and the tower controller. It is understood that 39 people were killed.

UPDATE

On final approach to runway 02 at Kathmandu-Tribhuvan Intl Airport, the aircraft crashed short of the runway, broke apart and caught fire.

The Dash-8-400 (S2-AGU) was on a regular flight BS211 from Dhaka.

At the time there was a light tailwind component of six to seven knots.

According to transmissions by the Kathmandu tower controller, despite cleared to land on runway 02 the flight began deviating from its course.

A series of back-and-forth conversation emerged between the captain and the tower controller (both radio voices switched from female to male) about which runway the flight BS211 was aiming for.

Amid much confusion- mostly on the part of the flight crew of BS211-  the ultimate landing clearance on runway 02 was received. The crash occurred less them a minute after that.

About 15 minutes prior the arrival of BS211, the direction of landing has been changed from runway 20 to the opposite runway 02.

Details about fatalities or survivors are sketchy at the time.

(See ATC-conversation below)

METAR: Kathmandu Airport (VNKT):

 12/03/2018 14:35-> METAR VNKT 120850Z 26007KT 140V300 7000 FEW015 FEW025CB SCT030
           BKN100 21/10 Q1015 NOSIG CB TO SE AND S=
 
 12/03/2018 14:05-> METAR VNKT 120820Z 28008KT 240V320 6000 TS FEW015 FEW025CB
           SCT030 22/11 Q1015 NOSIG CB TO SE S AND SW=
 

ATC Radio Transcript Kathmandu-Tower:

(Note: this transcript is unofficial and can contain inadequate data)

BS211(female voice): „Good day, BanglaStar211 final runway 02.“
KTH-Tower: „BanglaStar211, tower. Wind 220 degrees eight knots, tailwind component seven knots, continue approach.“
BS211(female voice): „Continue approach BanglaStar 211.“
..
KTH-Tower: „BanglaStar211, wind 220 degrees seven knots, talwind component six knots, you’re cleared to land.“
BS211(female voice): „Cleared to land, BanglaStar 211.“
..
KTH-Tower: „BanglaStar211, tower?“
BS211(female voice): „Go ahead, sir.“
BS211(male voice): „Go ahead, mam‘.“
KTH-Tower: „BanglaStar211, you were given a landing clearance to runway 02.“
BS211(male voice): „Affirmative, mam.“
KTH-Tower: „You are going towards runway 20.“
BS211(male voice): „..(garbled transmission)..to runway 02.“
KTH-Tower (different voice): „…211, runway 20, cleared to land.“
BS211(male voice): „..cleared to land..(unintelligible).“
..
KTH-Tower (different voice): „BanglaStar211, Kathmandu Tower“
BS211(male voice): „Go ahead“
KTH-Tower (different voice): „BanglaStar211, request your intentions.“
BS211(male voice): „..(unintelligible)..“
KTH-Tower (different voice): “ BanglaStar211, that would be VFR.“
BS211(male voice): „Affirmative“
KTH-Tower (different voice): “ 211 join a ri…ehm..right downwind to runway 20.“
BS211(male voice): „Copied.“
KTH-Tower (different voice): “ …right downwind runway 02..“
..
Tower cleares another aircraft (Buddha282) to land on runway 02.
 ..
 KTH-Tower: „And BanglaStar 211, traffic at final eh..runway 02 at two miles, report sighting.“
BS211(male voice): „Copied, Sir. We’ll be at (..) runway  02.“
KTH-Tower: „Confirm you’re tracking towards runway 20 ?“
BS211(male voice): „Affirmative.“
KTH-Tower: „Right..left, right downwind runway 02, I say again Bangla 212 traffic is on final runway 02 landing on runway 02.“
BS211(male voice): „Copied Sir“
..
Tower confirmed landing clearance for the other aircraft (Buddha282) to land on runway 02.
 ..
 KTH-Tower: „211 I say it again, do not proceed towards runway 20. Cleared to hold at your current position.“
BS211(male voice): „Okay, we’re making an orbit to the right, copied ?“
BS211(male voice): „Tower, 211, making a right holding, right holding for runway 02.“
KTH-Tower: „Okay that’s good but do not land. Traffic is on short final runway 02.“
BS211(male voice): „We have that, Sir copied. (unintelligible) we’re cleared to land“
..
KTH-Tower: „..BanglaStar211, runway..eh..cleared to land. Runway is vacated, either runway 02 or 20 ?“
BS211(male voice): „Yes Siur, we like to land on 20.“
KTH-Tower: „Okay runway 20, cleared to land. Wind is 270 degrees, six knots.“
BS211(male voice): „260 copied, cleared to land.“
KTH-Tower: „BanglaStar211, confirm you have the runway in sight?“
BS211(male voice): „Negative, Sir.“
KTH-Tower: „BanglaStar211, turn right and ah..you have the runway, confirm you have the runway not in sight, yet ?“
BS211(male voice): „Affirmative, we have (..) runway in sight. Requesting clear to land, Sir.“
KTH-Tower: „And BanglaStar211, cleared to land.“
BS211(male voice): „Cleared to land runway 02, BanglaStar212.“
KTH-Tower: „Roger, ruway 02, cleared to land, BanglaStar211.“
..
BS211(male voice): „..sir, are we cleared to land ?“
KTH-Tower: „BanglaStar211, I say again..turn… (yelling in background).“
..
 (end of BS211 transmissions)

 

[DEFCON]

Thanks for the update Airband.

It'll be interesting to hear what was going on in that cockpit.

[blues deville]

The above ATC transcript may read in English but I can you it doesn’t sound like it. 

[Kip Powick]

Didn't take long for  a bunch of videos to show up concerning the aftermath of the crash. Everyone and anyone who had a video cam seemed to be able to get very close to the body recovery process. Not a pleasant sight but the closeness of the crash did give one more insight on just how much tangled wreckage there is when an aircraft crashes and burns.

Little semblance of security at the crash site although much  later it did seem like the Military was trying to keep the "rubber-neckers" back by creating a standing line of troops .

[Guest]

US-Bangla crash: Nepal says pilot had 'emotional breakdown'

• 3 hours ago

• https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-47027742

Image copyright Getty Images Image caption The plane caught fire after making a dangerous landing attempt in Kathmandu last March

The pilot of a plane that crashed in Nepal last March "seemed to have an emotional breakdown", according to a final report into the disaster.

The flight carrying 71 people from Dhaka in Bangladesh caught fire as it landed in Kathmandu, killing 51 people.

It was initially thought that poor communication with air traffic control may have been to blame.

But investigators now say the pilot was ranting to crew members and even smoking in the cockpit, due to stress.

Nepal's Accident Investigation Commission said in its report that the captain of US-Bangla Airlines flight BS211 was "very much emotionally disturbed and stressed" because a female colleague, who was not on board the plane, had "questioned his reputation" as a good flight instructor.

The 52-year-old pilot was released from the Bangladeshi Air Force in 1993 because of depression, the report says, but was later declared fit to fly civilian aircraft.

Recent medical reports had not mentioned any symptoms.

Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Of the 71 passengers and crew members on board, 51 died

Investigators say the pilot's vocal pitch, and the language he was using "indicated that he was agitated and experiencing high levels of stress" even when speaking to ground control in Dhaka before take-off.

According to the black box voice recorder and reports from surviving passengers, the pilot smoked in the cockpit and "engaged in unnecessary, unprofessional and lengthy conversation even in the critical phase" of the flight.

• Did poor communication cause Nepal crash?
• Nepal survivors describe air crash horror

"This state of mind with high degree of stress and emotional state might have led him to all the procedural lapses," the report says. "This, together with the failure on the part of both the crew to follow the standard operating procedure at the critical stage of the flight, contributed to the loss of situational awareness."

It adds that the 25-year-old first officer may have been reluctant to be more assertive during the final approach and landing because of the captain's experience and authority.

Because they had lost "situational awareness", the crew failed to realise the flight had deviated from its intended path until it was too late.

They missed the runway at Kathmandu's Tribhuvan International Airport, and ended up flying in an incorrect position in the dangerous mountainous terrain.

"Finally, when the crew sighted the runway, they were very low and too close to [it] and not properly aligned," the report says, adding that the landing attempt should have been aborted.

Instead the pilot "forced it to land while in a turn". The plane quickly skid off the runway and through a fence, rolling down a slope into a grassy field where it was engulfed in flames.

Soon after the crash, 29-year-old survivor Sharin Ahmed told BBC Nepali that "there was a huge fire outside and smoke gushed into our cabin", followed by an "explosion".

Both pilots, the two cabin crew and 47 passengers died as a result of the accident. The crash was the worst aviation disaster to hit Nepal in 26 years.

The report recommended that US-Bangla should actively monitor and assess its pilots' mental health, as well as any professional or personal issues they may be facing.