![]() A Pilatus PC-6 Porter, similar to the aircraft involved in the accident | |
Accident | |
---|---|
Date | 31 March 1975 |
Summary | Controlled flight into terrain |
Site | Boudhanath, Kathmandu Nepal [1] |
Aircraft | |
Aircraft type | Pilatus PC-6 Porter |
Operator | Royal Nepal Airlines |
Registration | 9N-AAZ |
Flight origin | Tribhuvan International Airport, Kathmandu, Nepal |
Destination | Phaplu Airport, Phaplu, Nepal |
Passengers | 4 |
Crew | 1 |
Survivors | 0 |
On 31 March 1975, a Pilatus PC-6 Porter (registration number 9N-AAZ, and serial number 727), [2] operated by Royal Nepal Airlines crashed in Nepal en route from Tribhuvan International Airport to Phaplu Airport on a domestic charter flight. The flight was chartered by Sir Edmund Hillary to bring his wife Louise and daughter Belinda to Phaplu, where he was building a hospital. [3] The plane crashed shortly after takeoff. [4]
The aircraft involved in the crash was a Pilatus PC-6 Porter operated by Royal Nepal Airlines. It was delivered to Royal Nepal Airlines in 1971. [5]
All occupants on board died in the crash; they included the pilot Peter Shand, Sir Edmund Hillary's wife Louise and daughter Belinda, the family's dog and two Sherpa friends of the family. [4] [6]
The flight was a chartered flight, that took off from Tribhuvan International Airport at or before 7:30 a.m. NPT for its flight to Phaplu Airport. The aircraft took off on runway 20 in a southern direction, but the pilot directly asked for permission to land. [7] The aircraft turned towards the right but was unable to make a landing, crashing into a ditch behind the northern end of the runway. [3]
In her biography Keeper of the Mountains, Elizabeth Hawley describes that the pilot Peter Shand did not do a walk-around, [3] failing to see that an aileron was still fixed by a ground lock pin, because he was late to the airport and this caused the accident. [7]
The Nepali Times reported that the pilot was hired by Royal Nepal Airlines despite losing his previous job due to "carelessness". [8]
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