Of Nepal crash: Tale of ATR 72 aircrafts; concerns over Kathmandu's aviation administration

An ATR 72-500 plane making a 27-minute flight to a Nepal tourist town crashed into a gorge Sunday while attempting to land at a newly opened airport, killing at least 68 of the 72 people aboard. This article will take a look at the past accidents and the safety concerns looming large on Nepal's aviation industry.

Hyderabad: The twin-engine ATR 72-500 aircraft, operated by Nepal’s Yeti Airlines, crashed while flying from the capital, Kathmandu, to Pokhara, carrying 72 on board including 15 foreign nationals and four crew members. The foreigners included five Indians, four Russians, two South Koreans, and one each from Ireland, Australia, Argentina and France. At least 68 were killed and 4 are missing in the crash, making it one of the deadliest in three decades.

ATR 72, the type of plane involved has been used by airlines around the world for short regional flights. Introduced in the late 1980s by a French and Italian partnership, the aircraft model has been involved in several deadly accidents over the years.

In Taiwan two earlier accidents involving ATR 72-500 and ATR 72-600 aircrafts happened just months apart. In July 2014, a TransAsia ATR 72-500 flight crashed while trying to land on the scenic Penghu archipelago between Taiwan and China, killing 48 people onboard.

An ATR 72-600 operated by the same Taiwanese airline crashed shortly after takeoff in Taipei in February 2015 after one of its engines failed and the second was shut down, apparently by mistake. The 2015 crash, captured in dramatic footage that showed the plane striking a taxi as it hurtled out of control, killed 43, and prompted authorities to ground all Taiwanese-registered ATR 72s for some time. TransAsia ceased all flights in 2016 and later went out of business.

ATR identified the plane involved in Sunday's crash as an ATR 72-500 in a tweet. According to plane tracking data from flightradar24.com, the aircraft was 15 years old and “equipped with an old transponder with unreliable data.” It was previously flown by India’s Kingfisher Airlines and Thailand’s Nok Air before Yeti took it over in 2019, according to records on Airfleets.net.

Please assist & coordinate in proper, accurate investigation. There are many ATR flying in Nepal. Thousands of passengers travel daily in ATRs(sic), wrote Sajal Sharma. 46 crashes with 29 total losses for a 63% ratio. Then add to it a 75% fatality ratio 398 of 527. Mostly deicing or cold weather. Sounds like a big problem(sic), wrote another twitter user Anurag Jain responded to the ATR's acknowledgement tweet.

ATR claims to be the world number one regional aircraft manufacturer with its ATR 42 and 72 aircraft, according to the company website. It also claims be the best-selling aircraft in the less than 90-seat market segment. ATR aircrafts burn up to 45% less fuel and emit up to 45% less CO2 than regional jets. ATR is a joint-venture between Airbus and Leonardo, it said.

Nepal, home to eight of the world’s 14 highest mountains, including Mount Everest, has a history of air crashes. According to the Flight Safety Foundation’s Aviation Safety database, there have been 42 fatal plane crashes in Nepal since 1946.

Sunday's crash is Nepal’s deadliest since 1992, when all 167 people aboard a Pakistan International Airlines plane were killed when it plowed into a hill as it tried to land in Kathmandu. The Yeti Airlines which was involved in the mishap has a fleet of six ATR72-500 planes, company spokesperson Sudarshan Bartaula said.

The European Union has banned airlines from Nepal from flying into the 27-nation bloc since 2013, citing weak safety standards. In 2017, the International Civil Aviation Organization cited improvements in Nepal’s aviation sector, but the EU continues to demand administrative reforms. (with AP inputs)