Nepal plane crash

[HardDrive]

Looks like he was entering a stall. Fire on the ground seems to indicate there was fuel.

Pilots, thoughts?


(Video contains moments right before the crash)
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-64284366

[cstreit]

Horrifying....

[Nate2046]

Weird. Definitely looks slow with a high angle of attack then into a stall. Not what you would expect in daytime VMC. Possibly one of the engines rolled back, got slow, then Vmc roll? Didn’t seem to snap over like you see on one of those though.

My first thought before seeing the video was a di&#ed up approach leading to an accelerated stall. Had the Kathmandu crash on my mind after seeing that episode of Air Disaster the other day. Clearly not the case here.

https://youtu.be/jyBrCjaNxOE

[Dantilla]

If needing to tighten up the turn to line up with the runway, sometimes it's tempting to kick in an extra bit of rudder.

Bad idea when close to stall speed.

An uncoordinated turn will speed up the outside wing, but slow the inside wing, potentially to the point of stalling.

Don't know what happened here, but the base-to-final turn is a critical phase of flight.

[pavulon]

Hot, humid, high airport altitude, too slow, turning

[Seahawk]

No issues with any of the posts so far…excellent.

The only problem with video in crash scenarios is they show the outside of the aircraft, not the result of any number of failures happening inside the skin of the aircraft.

No competent pilot, especially an airline pilot, would put a healthy aircraft in the profile shown in the video.

That said, difficult to watch…families involved.

[flatbutt]

Originally Posted by Nate2046

Weird. Definitely looks slow with a high angle of attack then into a stall. Not what you would expect in daytime VMC. Possibly one of the engines rolled back, got slow, then Vmc roll? Didn’t seem to snap over like you see on one of those though.

My first thought before seeing the video was a di&#ed up approach leading to an accelerated stall. Had the Kathmandu crash on my mind after seeing that episode of Air Disaster the other day. Clearly not the case here.

https://youtu.be/jyBrCjaNxOE

It looks like he landed it. How would a stall cause a crash after touch down?

[Nate2046]

Originally Posted by flatbutt

It looks like he landed it. How would a stall cause a crash after touch down?

Sorry, I didn’t state that very well. The crash in Kathmandu was the result of an incredibly poorly flown visual approach that the pilot tried to force onto the runway after some extreme maneuvering. He did not stall the aircraft. My first thought about this crash , short of the runway, was that it might have been caused by similar maneuvers that resulted in an accelerated stall. Seeing the video, that was clearly not the case.

[beepbeep]

Hi,

From pprune info, there are indications that pilot was oriented to land on wrong airport (there is "old" and "new" airport). She figured out late, slow and low and tried to do 90-degree turn which plane could not handle given its energy state (low & slow?). It stalled, dropped a wing and that's it. Poor people. At least it was quick. This is my worst nightmare.

Inside video. Those who know the area say that the fact you could see the football stadium from the window indicates that a/c was on wrong approach and likely lined up for old airport.

Warning! Inside video of crash!

[GH85Carrera]

Most aircraft crashes are due to pilot error. This one sure looks like a pilot was way over his ability to make good decisions. A real tragedy.

We all want a Capt. Sully Sullenberger type to fly our airplane and often get Capt. Kangaroo type instead. I don't really have a solution. Some of it maybe would help if pilots were more willing to turn in fellow pilots that made incompetent decisions, but that leads to dangerous possibilities of jealous pilots reporting good pilots to get better assignments.

[Brown747]

Originally Posted by beepbeep

Hi,

From pprune info, there are indications that pilot was oriented to land on wrong airport (there is "old" and "new" airport). She figured out late, slow and low and tried to do 90-degree turn which plane could not handle given its energy state (low & slow?). It stalled, dropped a wing and that's it. Poor people. At least it was quick. This is my worst nightmare.

Inside video. Those who know the area say that the fact you could see the football stadium from the window indicates that a/c was on wrong approach and likely lined up for old airport.

Warning! Inside video of crash!

https://avherald.com/h?article=503c63e9&opt=0

[Seahawk]

Originally Posted by Seahawk

No competent pilot, especially an airline pilot, would put a healthy aircraft in the profile shown in the video.

I was wrong. Yikes.

Originally Posted by Nate2046

He did not stall the aircraft. My first thought about this crash , short of the runway, was that it might have been caused by similar maneuvers that resulted in an accelerated stall. Seeing the video, that was clearly not the case.

As a former pilot, I get the whole "better to die than look bad" but for the love of all named after Hindu sage Ne, wave off and go around.

[stevej37]

Tragic...but true.

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/16/world/asia/nepal-yeti-airlines-crash.html

[Cajundaddy]

Too low and slow for the conditions. Rolled into a left turn nose up and the inside wing stalled. Tragic.

[Arizona_928]

Nepal, Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka are the short list of countries with public transportation that i do not trust (in that order).

[flatbutt]

Originally Posted by Cajundaddy

Too low and slow for the conditions. Rolled into a left turn nose up and the inside wing stalled. Tragic.

I still don't get what happened. The video shows the plane on the ground. Did it noseplant or cartwheel?

[HardDrive]

Originally Posted by Arizona_928

Nepal, Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka are the short list of countries with public transportation that i do not trust (in that order).

I have flow internally in India quite a bit. Their air system is actually very modern at this point.

[Arizona_928]

Originally Posted by HardDrive

I have flow internally in India quite a bit. Their air system is actually very modern at this point.

Yeah. That's not why i don't trust those places.

Human error and well the caste system they all use doesn't help.

[HardDrive]

Originally Posted by Arizona_928

Human error and well the caste system they all use doesn't help.

Well, the caste system in India could have a negative impact on safety in India, but not in the way one might think. Because of oppression of lower castes, they have straight up quotas for jobs. So if you are filling an air traffic controller job, there is a certain percentage that have to go to lower cast people, qualified or not.

[Cajundaddy]

Originally Posted by flatbutt

I still don't get what happened. The video shows the plane on the ground. Did it noseplant or cartwheel?

Scroll down for the final moments of flight. It does not show the impact.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-64284366