Nepal Airlines Corporation (NAC) has received a new trouble after a wide-body aircraft Boeing 767 belonging to United Nations collided with one of the Chinese aircraft grounded at its hangar at Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA).
United Nations aircraft B767 wings collided with the tail of the Chinese aircraft with registration ‘9N-AKV’ while taxing. The official of NAC said that the Boeing collided with rudder of the small aircraft and although the contact seems normal, the part must be changed and it is now in process of purchasing from China. Another aircraft with registration ‘9N-AKU’ is out of operation after the nose of the aircraft cracked while turning inside the hanger.
The corporation’s official told that there is no prediction about the completion of maintenance procedures. Out of 4 such aircraft 2 are out of operation without even doing a maiden flight in the country. One aircraft broke down after the negligence of the corporations engineer and another recently due to the collapse with the 767.
According to the official as the aircraft are not currently in operation, the maintenance was slowed and the incident is under investigation.
Among the 6 Chinese aircraft, 4 are Harbin Y12e and 2 are Modern Arc 60 series aircraft.
A senior pilot of the corporation said that the management is not giving importance to domestic flights and are focusing on adding wide body aircraft only although there are many problems in the domestic sector.
The Chinese aircraft have been problematic since the first day. There is only one capable senior pilot Nipendra Bhattrai to fly Harbin Y12e and 4 co-pilots to assist him. Although there were other 4 pilots along with Bhattrai, instructor pilot Ang Nuri Sherpa and captain Anish Man Shakya has resigned where as another senior captain Sanjay Bade Shrestha is still on sick leave. Captain Udhav Ghimires license has not been renewed so is unable to operate. All aircrafts are now under Bhattrai’s command but after all aircraft got grounded, he is also free in relief.
As per the information, NAC is sending its 4 pilots to China for the training purpose. Senior Captain, Uddhav Ghimire with a team of co-pilots: Prachanda Khadka, Bijay Aware and Rakesh Kafle will depart for training.
According to senior captain Uddhav Ghimire, the team will return to Nepal after two days of training. Captain Ghimire has not been able to operate the aircraft due to license failure. As per the existing rule, the license must be renewed in every six months as the part of Pilot Proficiency Check (PPC).
