Another plane crashed: why Nepal’s airspace is considered particularly dangerous Germany now wants to tighten criminal law after New Year’s Eve riots

With the Himalayas, Mount Everest and countless temples, Nepal is one of the most beautiful travel destinations in the world. Hundreds of thousands of tourists visit the region every year. But what is a dream for visitors is a huge challenge for pilots. Even among experienced pilots, the flight paths there are considered – to say the least – demanding.

Again and again machines crash on their way to the airports nearby. The passenger plane that crashed in the Nepalese city of Pokhara, killing at least 68 people, is just the latest of numerous accidents.

In May last year, a passenger plane crashed in the Himalayas. Flight route: Pokhara-Jomsom. In February 2016, 23 people were killed in a crash, also en route from Pokhara.

The weather conditions are unpredictable

Why are plane crashes so common in the region? The answer is complex. On the one hand, the extreme weather in the Himalayan region plays a decisive role for air traffic.

Due to the nearby mountains and the differences in altitude, sudden weather changes can often occur. Domestic flights are often canceled at short notice if visibility has deteriorated as a result or if the wind has exceeded an aircraft speed limit.

Aircraft that are in the air must then be able to rely on air traffic controllers on the ground.

Unreliable air traffic surveillance

And that is probably one of the biggest problems: air traffic controllers in Nepal are considered unreliable and inaccurate. A pilot describes how inaccurate an Internet forum is: the employees there “often forget to provide information about traffic,” he writes.

You too [die Fluglotsen, Anm.d.Red.] will not close the airport if the wind exceeds the maximum limit,” the pilot reports. He himself had experienced that one of the air traffic controllers had given him incorrect information about the wind speed on approach.

The fact that incorrect information in the region can be life-threatening is beyond dispute with the pilots. But not only the weather and air traffic control are seen as a risk there. The runways are also notorious.

Lukla is considered the most dangerous airport

The most striking example is Tenzing Hillary Airport in Lukla: the airport at the foot of Mount Everest has a 530-meter short runway with a gradient of more than 10 percent. In addition, the airport was built directly into the slope between a mountain massif and a deep abyss.

Here too, in 2019, a small machine had an accident during takeoff. Three people died. The dead included a police officer who was on the ground at the time of the accident and the copilot of the Summit Air plane.

Speaking of pilots: Fatal accidents happen again and again in Nepal because many Nepalese pilots are poorly trained. In addition, the airlines’ machines are said to be poorly maintained. For this reason, they also do not comply with European regulations. Nepalese airlines have been banned from flying into the EU since 2013.

Despite all these risks, the Himalayas remain a valuable tourist destination. However, if you are not sure and you generally do not feel comfortable on airplanes, you should look for another travel destination.