Sad news aircrash in Nepal

Very sad to hear a twin turboprop Dornier 228 crashed shortly after take off from Tribhuvan Airport, Kathmandu. It was on route to Lukla. All 19 souls aboard were killed.

Birdstrike on TO - a large Vulture. Headed back to the field, but couldn't make it. Landed very heavily on a river bank/flat riverside section. Post landing fire killed pax and destroyed aircraft.

Apparently pax survived the landing, but not the fire. Nasty.

VulcanB2 wrote: Some are saying that emotive word "Pilot Error"? In that region I would have thought that only the best "Bush" pilots would be flying. You have much to learn about aviation. They're saying the bird strike is BS, hence the "pilot error". Seems they were quick to secure the area. For a forced landing attempt, there seems to be a distinct lack of any kind of witness marks to support that. Looks more like it crashed where it lay.

They've done such a good job of securing the crash site that the 1000 locals they've brought along to do the job would have obliterated any ground marks anyway. They were obviously very careful with the preservation of the wreckage too (not), and moved it all over the shop (ie, the tail for one).

The reports in the more trustworthy, non-sensationalist press in the UK today were grim reading - talk from current and former employees of the company regarding a very relaxed attitude to such "trivia" as weight and balance etc. There were reports of a mayday post birdstrike, and in an overweight, light(ish) twin airliner, you'd be in the poo very quickly indeed on one engine.

 Vulcan is in the building.