An early report into the Yeti Airlines plane crash in Nepal last month – in which 71 people, including five Indians, died – said human factor in the accident (cannot) be ‘disregarded’.
Cited by news agency PTI, the report indicated that ahead of landing one pilot may have accidentally operated levers that ‘feathered’ the engines – each lever starts/stops fuel supply and controls idling speed – instead of using the flaps, which caused the engines to lose thrust and the plane to fall. “When both propellers were feathered, the investigation team observed that both engines of 9N-ANC were running flight idle condition during the event flight to prevent over torque,” the preliminary report stated.
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The report also stated that it is rare for the propellers of both engines to come to a feathered position, and that data recorders recovered after the crash indicated ‘all recorded parameters related to engines did not show any anomaly’. “Human factor in the accident could not be disregarded. So it is an issue of investigation,” an official quoted by PTI said.
The report also said one of the pilots had noted there was no power from the engines. “When Air Traffic Controller (ATC) gave the clearance for landing at 10:57.07, the Pilot Flying (PF) mentioned twice that there was no power coming from the engines,” the report said.
The report also spoke to fatigue as a possible issue, noting the flight crew had already made two trips between Kathmandu and Pokhara on the same day; this was the third.
The prelim report also ruled out weather as a possible concern, noting that visibility was 6 km at the time of the crash and the sky was ‘almost clear with only a few clouds’.
There were two captains – Anju Khatiwada was obtaining aerodrome familiarisation for operating in Pokhara, and Kamal KC was the instructor pilot on this training flight.
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A final report on the plane crash has not yet been released.
Yeti Airlines flight 691 took off from Kathmandu’s on January 15 and crashed in the Seti River gorge between the old and new airports that serve the resort city of Pokhara.
There were 72 people, including crew, on board, but only 71 bodies have been found so far; the 72nd person – a passenger – is presumed dead.
The joint secretary of Nepal’s tourism ministry, Buddhi Sagar Lamichhane, was quoted in The Kathmandu Post as acknowledging the ‘issue of the flaps’. “There are questions about why the pilots delayed extending the flaps… There are many factors to look at,” he said.
