Manang Air helicopter crash during Everest base camp helicopter tour

Manang Air helicopter crash during Everest base camp helicopter tour

Manang Air helicopter crash during the Everest base camp helicopter tour is sad news for all the people in Nepal who are engaged in the tourism sector. It is sad news for whole nations in Nepal and all Nepalese all over. This is the Second air accident In Nepal. The last was in January when an aircraft went down near Pokhara city.

During this plane crash in central Nepal around 68 people dead. This plane crash was Nepal’s deadliest plane crash in more than 30 years. Being engaged in the tourism sector and operating helicopter packages to Everest base camp for a long time I felt so bad about this incident. The Pokhara accident is even worse news for me and feel so bad to hear this. The live video from people on social media makes us cry.

7/11/2023

Tuesday on 7/11/2023 Manang Air Helicopter crashed during the Everest base camp tour. Six people were dead in a helicopter crash according to the news and a spoke person from TIA in Kathmandu. The Manang air helicopter was carrying five people from Mexico and one Nepali pilot. All five Mexican people are doing an Everest base camp helicopter landing tour to see the magnificent view of Everest, Pumori, Nuptse, Amadablam, and the many Himalayas around.  

The five Mexican people went to Lukla the previous day 7/10/2023 and due to bad weather, they stay the night and wait for clear weather the next day. They did the Everest flight in the morning and set off from Solukhambu district at local time 10: 05 a.m. The helicopter is heading towards the capital city of Kathmandu after completing the Heli landing tor in Everest. According to the CAAN, the helicopter flight lost contact less than 10 minutes from takeoff. There is no contact after 10:13 a.m. and later found crashed. According to the authorities, the helicopter crashed in LIkhupike which lies inside Solukhambu Rural Municipality.

 Altitude Air on the search for the missing Manang helicopter

After the Manang chopper had gone out of contact on Tuesday morning Altitude Air along with Security officials was mobilized in the Solukhambu area. The altitude air flies towards the Lamjura pass in search of the missing chopper. According to the rural municipality deputy chair Nwang Lhakpa Sherpa the local first informed of the chopper crash at Chihandanda in Lamjura of Bhakanje village.

When the security officials reached the accident site they found also the crashed helicopter in Chihandanda of Lamura which lies between Jiri and Phaplu. The chopper with registration number 9N-AMV was last tracked in the Lamjura pass area.

Crash site in Lamjura

According to the sources the locals and the police reached the crash site. They found the bodies of all boards on the crash site. After that, they process further to take all the dead bodies to Kathmandu. The process will take some time to fly to Kathmandu from there.

The reason behind the Helicopter accident

The reasons that cause the crash has not yet been determined. Nepal’s weather might be the big reason behind it. The low visibility and mountainous topography might be another reason. All of them are the reason for the loss. Being overweight might be the important reason behind the accident.

Manang Air the Big and reputed helicopter company in Nepal

Manang Air is a helicopter company in Nepal. This company is based in Kathmandu Nepal which is founded in 1997. This helicopter company is operating helicopters in commercial air transportation within Nepalese territory. They do the flight under the regulation of the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal. This company provides chartered services and is focused on personalized services. The adventure flight excursions and expedition work is highly done by this airline. Manang Air is the only Approved Training organization in Nepal. If we talk about Manang air history we found that they started their operations with a single Mil Mi-17 helicopter in 1997.  The company is not operating helicopter service between 2009 till 2014. The helicopter company have to stop operating after their Mi-17 was involved in an accident. This helicopter crashed on a cargo mission which left Surkhet airport

Accidents that Manang Air has to suffer

1. In 2009 MI-17 crashed on a cargo mission while flying from Surkhet airport. The flight left Surkhet at 10:30 am with supplies that includes pipes meant for setting up a drinking water supply in Radikot in Humla district. A Russian flight engineer was killed and five others are injured.
2. In June 2017 Manang helicopter en route to Gosainkunda from Kathmandu crash-landed at Gosainkunda helipad and have minor damages with no human casualties.
3. On 18 August 2018 manang air euro copter AS350 tail rotor hit and killed an Indian passenger upon disembarking in Hilsa which suspended the airline’s operations by CAAN which is temporary.
4. On 14 April 2019, Manang air euro copter AS350 parked in Lukla helipad was destroyed when summit air changed direction while taking off from Lukla airport to Ramachhap. Two helicopters of Manang Air were hit at parking and a flight officer died. The two security officers on the ground near the runway were also injured.
5. Today on 11 July 2023 a managed air euro copter AS350 crashed near Likhupika just after ten minutes of takeoff. One pilot and 5 Mexican families were killed.

The Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) has issued new regulations to ensure the safety of helicopters which was mentioned below:

1. CAAN has formed a team for daily control and supervision of helicopter and STOL operations.
2. Authority to issue permission to helicopter operations, including the rescue flights, to be centralized at ATD during this monsoon till September with a periodic review on a weekly basis for the effeteness of this provision.
3. Either point of origin or destinations during operation to be aerodromes only.
4. Non-essential flights like mountain flights, and external load operations (sling flights) showering of flowers by helicopter are to be retracted till September.
5. The flight crew having a share in the company shall not exercise the privilege of license for all types of commercial flights.
6. Above item e is to be incorporated for necessary amendment in AOCR so as to address various issues at the policy level including required amendment in the enforcement manual.

Conclusion

The Offseason time to rue the rapidly increasing number of accidents in Nepal. These kinds of accidents bring Negative impacts on the Tourism sector and bring maximum risk for people engaged in this field. we should be aware before the loss.