1975 Royal Nepal Airlines Pilatus PC-6 Porter crash

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1975 Royal Nepal Airlines Pilatus PC-6 Porter crash
Pilatus PC-6 SkydiveLillo JD18032008 (cropped).jpg
A Pilatus PC-6 Porter, similar to the aircraft involved in the accident
Accident
Date31 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
Passengers4
Crew1
Survivors0

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]

Contents

Aircraft

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]

Crew and passengers

All occupants on board died in the crash; they included the pilot Peter Shand, Sir Edmund Hillary's wife Louise and daughter Belinda, two Sherpa friends of the family, and the family's dog. [4] [6]

Accident

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]

Aftermath

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]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Aviation Safety Report 2019" (PDF). Kathmandu: Civil Aviation Authority Nepal. p. 33. Retrieved 30 May 2020.
  2. ↑ "S/N 727". Pilatus Porter History. Retrieved 30 May 2020.
  3. 1 2 3 McDonald, Bernadette; Hillary, Sir Edmund (October 2012). Keeper of the Mountains. RMB. p. 113. ISBN   978-1927330159.
  4. 1 2 "Hillary's Kin Killed In Nepal Plane Crash". The New York Times. 1 April 1975. Retrieved 30 May 2020.
  5. ↑ "S/N 727". Pilatus Porter History. Retrieved 30 May 2020.
  6. ↑ Dillon, Michael (23 May 2003). "Sherpa Hillary". Nepali Times. Retrieved 30 May 2020.
  7. 1 2 Gill, Michael (24 September 2014). "'Dishevelled' pilot who caused Hillary tragedy should have been barred". Stuff. Retrieved 30 May 2020.
  8. ↑ Dixit, Kunda (18 July 2019). "Highs and lows of Sir Ed". Nepali Times. Retrieved 30 May 2020.

28°10′N84°15′E / 28.167°N 84.250°E / 28.167; 84.250

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