Tara Air DHC-6 Twinotter(9N-AHH) : Crash Report

KATHMANDU, 30 JULY 2016

Today, Aircrash Investigation Committee has revealed the crash report of Tara Air DHC-6 Twinotter bearing the registration 9N-AHH which crashed at Solighopte Hill, Myagdi on Feb24,2016. After 160 days of investigation, committee has published the report. Twenty three people onboard the flight had perished away in the tragic crash.

As stated in the crash report, the major cause that contributed the crash was pilot error rather than technical aspects. On that day, weather of pokhara was not good enough. The visibility was 4 km as provided by Pokhara Meterological Department but Air Traffic Control (ATC) informed the visibility of 5 km to the crew.

Though for the safe operation of flight, atleast 5km visibility is essential but crew didn’t aborted the flight as they might have been under pressure. The day before crash, in the similar weather condition, Capt. Roshan Manandhar successfully conducted flight so this might had led to conduction of that day flight. Prior to the flight, F/O Dikesh Nemkul wasn’t mentally prepared as he was quite aware of weather.

Similarly on the day of crash, alternative airport(Bhairahawa) was closed which should have been opened for the safe flight inorder to tackle the emergencies that an aircraft could face on PKR-JOM route. The mistake of crew to conduct flight in these condition has also been included in the report.

The Instrument Flight Rules (IFR) isn’t allowed on PKR-JOM route but as the crashed DHC-6 Twinotter was a brand new aircraft that was recently added in Tara’s fleet, it could be used in allowed IFR flights. The pilots were flying the aircraft after they crossed Ghodepani in Instrument Meterological Condition (IMC).

According to the sources, the aircraft flew several times in and out of the route inorder to avoid black clouds. After having a close analysis of Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR), investigators concluded that there weren’t any responses from the crew when their aircraft’s Enhanced Ground Proximity Warning System (EGPWS) called out “Terrain… Pull Up… Terrain …”.

On the day of crash, the command of the aircraft was in the hand of F/O Nemkul. Only 30 seconds before of crash, Capt. Manandhar took the command of aircraft though it was too late to avoid the tragic incident.

Tara Air DHC-6 Twinotter(9N-AHH) : Crash Report