| Occurrence Type: | Accident |
| Summary: | Crashed on a hill due to pilot error |
| Site: | Near Shreechaur, Okhaldhunga District, Nepal |
| Aircraft Type: | De Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter |
| Operator: | Tara Air |
| Tail Number: | 9N-AFX |
| Origin: | Lamidanda Airport, Lamidanda, Nepal |
| Destination: | Tribhuvan International Airport, Kathmandu, Nepal |
| Occupants: | 22 |
| Passengers: | 19 |
| Crew: | 3 |
| Fatalities: | 22 |
| Survivors: | 0 |
On 15 December 2010, a DHC-6 Twin Otter passenger aircraft of Tara Air crashed shortly after take-off on a domestic flight from Lamidanda to Kathmandu, Nepal. The wreckage of the aircraft was found in Bilandu forest near the village of Shreechaur the morning after the crash. All 19 passengers and three crew aboard were killed in the crash. There was initial speculation that bad weather or the overloading of the aircraft might have caused the crash. An investigation into the crash was launched by Nepalese authorities after the accident site was located.[1]
Five minutes after taking off from Lamidanda Airport at 15:08 local time,[2] the left wing of the aircraft impacted land and the DHC-6 crashed. The aircraft was reportedly scheduled to land in Kathmandu at around 15:35, 35 minutes after departure.[3] All 19 passengers and three crew members aboard were killed in the crash.[2]
There was initial speculation that bad weather caused the crash. The chief executive of Tara Air, Vijay Shrestha, said: "It showed poor visibility at different levels of the atmosphere. Thick haze at lower levels and as thick a cloud higher up could have caused poor visibility."[4] There was also speculation that the aircraft could have been overloaded, but Shrestha refuted these allegations. "The aircraft's maximum take-off weight is 12,500 pounds, while the Twin Otter's take-off weight that crashed killing all 22 on board was 12,280 pounds," he said. "So it was underweight by 220 pounds, the allegation is wrong."[5]
The aircraft involved, manufactured in 1984 by De Havilland Canada, was a DHC-6 Twin Otter bearing the registration 9N-AFX with serial number 806. The aircraft was powered by two Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A-27 engines.
Helicopters searched for the wreckage of the aircraft on the day of the crash, but were called off during the night because of poor visibility, even though night vision equipment was installed on board. The day after the crash, the Nepalese Army located the wreckage in Okhaldhunga, Nepal, at an altitude of approximately 2700m (8,900feet). All 22 bodies were recovered.[6] The wreckage of the aircraft reportedly covered 200m2, and, according to a police spokesperson, had "broken up completely".[7]
An investigation into the crash was launched after the accident site was located. Nepal's Ministry of Tourism and Civil Aviation formed a group of five investigators to find the cause of the crash. The five were ordered to present a report on the accident by 90 days after the crash occurred.[8] The cockpit voice recorder was recovered from the scene of the accident.[9]
On 11 July 2011 the investigators sends their report into the accident to the Ministry of Transports of Nepal, saying that the flight was cleared to climb to 10,500 ft under Visual Flight Rules (VFR), but later the flight crew was instructed to descend to 8,500 ft for the presence of a helicopter in their opposite direction. The pilots disagreed with each other whether to continue climbing to 10,500 ft or descend to 8,500 ft. The captain which was the pilot monitoring is tending to continue the climb because based on his opinion a descent to 8,500 feet in that particular terrain was too risky, but he remained very undecided. The first officer who was the pilot flying instead was continued to press for continuing the descent. Finally, although with great reluctance, the captain decided to make the descent but during the descent the airplane entering in a cloud when the left wing impacted on a hill top. All this led investigators to stated that the main cause of the accident was the pilots imprudent decision to carry out the descent despite the risky mountainous terrain.[10]
A separate investigation was also started into alleged irregularities, which, according to The Himalayan Times included "carrying passengers by issuing tickets in other's name, not verifying identity while checking-in passengers and the process of immigration of the foreign nationals who lost their lives in the crash."[8] Police arrested the general manager of a travel agent based in Kathmandu over suspicions of tax evasion during the sale of tickets for the flight.[11]