Asia

The airplane departed Kathmandu-Tribhuvan Airport at 1032LT on a schedule service (YT691) to Pokhara, carrying 68 passengers and a crew of four. On final approach to Pokhara Airport in excellent weather conditions, the airplane entered a slight pitch up attitude, rolled to the left up to 90° (the left wing apparently stalled) then crashed on the bank of the River Seti, bursting into flames. The airplane was totally destroyed and the wreckage was found about 1,9 km short of runway 12 of the new Pokhara International Airport that was open to traffic January 1st, 2023. Part of the debris were found on the top of the hill and others down in the river bed. No one is believed to have survived the crash.

The single engine airplane departed Ust-Kara on a schedule service to Naryan-Mar with an intermediate stop in Karatayka, carrying 10 passengers and two crews. Approaching Karatayka, the crew encountered marginal weather conditions and decided to divert to Varandey. Few minutes later, while flying in a 200-300 metres visibility, the airplane descended and crashed in a snow covered area located some 10 km northwest of Karatayka. A passenger and the captain were killed while 10 other occupants were injured. Shortly before the accident, the crew reported severe icing conditions.

The airplane departed Seoul-Incheon Airport at 1920LT on a schedule service to Mactan, Philippines, carrying 165 passagers and a crew of 11. On approach to Mactan Airport Runway 22 at night, the crew encountered poor weather conditions with thunderstorm activity. Due to the presence of CB's at 1,800 feet, the captain decided to abort the approach and initiated a go around procedure. Fourteen minutes later, at 2226LT, on short final and after crossing the runway threshold, the airplane encountered windshear and apparently touched down hard. The crew aborted the landing procedure for a second time and initiated a second go around manoeuvre. The crew followed a holding pattern for about 30 minutes then was cleared for a third approach. After touchdown on a wet runway 22 (3,310 metres long), the airplane was unable to stop within the remaining distance and overran at a speed of 80 knots. While contacting soft ground, the nose gear was torn off then the airplane collided with various equipment of the localizer antenna and came to rest 360 metres past the runway end. All 176 occupants evacuated safely.

While attempting to land at night, the single engine airplane collided with a power line and crashed in a wooded area, coming to rest upside down. The wreckage was found some 10 km north of the Armavir Airport. Both occupants were killed.

The airplane departed Dyagilevo AFB (Ryazan) on a night flight apparently to Belgorod, carrying nine crew members. After takeoff, the engine n°4 caught fire. The crew elected to return for an emergency landing but the aircraft went out of control and crashed about one km from the airbase, bursting into flames. Four crew members were seriously injured and five others were killed. The aircraft was destroyed by impact forces and a post crash fire.

The twin engine airplane departed Yakutsk Airport on a cargo flight to Olenyok, carrying seven crew members and a load of 6,3 tons of food. En route, the airplane suffered a double engine failure. The crew reduced his altitude and attempted an emergency landing. The airplane crash landed in a wooded area located 70 km from Olenyok and came to rest. All seven crew members evacuated the cabin, among them three were slightly injured. The aircraft was damaged beyond repair.

The single engine airplane departed Us-Khatyn on a cargo flight to Vertikal'nyy, carrying one passenger and two pilots. En route, weather conditions worsened and the visibility was limited due to fog. Too low, the airplane impacted trees and crashed in a wooded area located about 46 km southeast of the village of Sebyan-Kyuyol. As the airplane failed to arrive at destination (the flight was supposed to be 2 hours and 30 minutes), SAR operations were initiated. The wreckage was found 10 days later, on July 1st, in an uninhabited area. Both pilots were killed and the passenger was found alive after he found refuge in a fishing house where he could find food.

On 29 May 2022, Tara Air’s 9N-AET, Twin Otter (DHC-6/300) aircraft was scheduled for three flights on Pokhara-Jomsom-Pokhara sector. Tara Air had also filed flight plans for two additional Charter flights on the same sector. Among those five flights, four flights were to be conducted by a set of crews already positioned at Pokhara while the last flight was scheduled to be commanded by the PIC who had reached Pokhara from Kathmandu that very morning. Since Jomsom Airport was closed for operations due to bad weather, the PIC went to Tara Air crew camp and waited for the updates of weather improvement of Jomsom. After Jomsom Airport was open for operations at 0321 UTC, Tara Air operation decided to operate the first scheduled flight. However suspecting the next flight operation to Jomsom could not be operated, the original PIC assigned to the flight seated on board as a passenger to Jomsom for his scheduled business trip and the PIC assigned for the last flight took command. The Flight Plan was amended accordingly. At 0342 UTC, Summit Air’s 9N-AKZ, LET-410 took-off from Pokhara to Jomsom. At 0405 UTC, it reported an altitude of 12,500 ft and patches of cloud over Tatopani. At 0409 UTC, Summit Air’s second aircraft 9N-AMG, LET-410, took-off for Jomsom and subsequently, at 0410 UTC, 9N-AET of Tara Air (TRA197) took-off with 19 passengers and three crews on board. The Copilot had initially reported 3 crew and 18 passengers onboard to Pokhara Tower but later, revised the passenger figure was 19 prior to takeoff. 9N-AET was supposed to take-off before SMT 601 but the PIC seemed hesitant to commence the flight due to weather PIREP from 9N-AKZ that, the en-route weather was not favorable for VFR flights and critical around LETE and TATOPANI. All the crew members of TRA 197 and SMT 601 were in their respective cockpits and communicating with the preceding flight 9N-AKZ as well as with Pokhara tower for the updated information of en-route and destination weather. No flights had been conducted since morning and most of the passengers of Tara air and Summit Air were already at airport. In this situation it can be assumed that there was pressure to conduct flight from each angle. While listening to the CVR of TRA 197, it was observed that someone, either ground staff or some intimate passenger to the crew, advising strongly to the PIC to conduct the flight. Following the PIREP from 9NAKZ, both TRA197 and SMT 601 subsequently started their engines to commence the flights. The PIC of TRA 197 was still hesitant to conduct the flight for Jomsom even after the engine start and delayed the taxi as he was not yet convinced about the weather report received from preceding 9N-AKZ aircraft. In the meantime, SMT 601 lined up for departure to Jomsom. That was one of the most important pressure points to the PIC of TRA 197 to initiate departure. TRA 197 finally lined up and took off from Pokhara at 0410 UTC following the SMT 601 based on the en-route weather information (VMC) from 9N-AKZ, through Pokhara Tower. The en-route weather provided by Summit Air’s 9N-AKZ to Pokhara Tower and the crewmembers of TRA 197 and SMT 601 was not the same. Aircraft took off from Pokhara from runway 04 heading North. Tower instructed “report 5 DME northwest RW 04”. Then after departure at 90 climb power aircraft turned left to maintain a heading of 345 and planned to join heading 305 degree towards Ghodepani. After four minutes, TRA 197 reported, “Now on course…. 6000 climbing and ETA Jomsom 32” (0432 UTC). At 04:21 TRA 197 reported to Pokhara Tower as position approaching Ghodepani 12000 climbing for 12500. After 6 Seconds ATC Pokhara asked TRA 197, “confirm would like to change level and TRA 197 replied, “No Ma'am we have crossed Ghodepani and like to be on”. Pokhara Tower instructed, “Tara 197 contact Jomsom Tower 122.5” CVR recordings show that after TRA 197 crossed Ghodepani, the PIC was not comfortable with the en-route weather. However, the flight was continued following the advice of SMT 601. At 0426 UTC, TRA 197made the first contact with Jomsom AFS and reported its position to which Jomsom Tower conveyed the prevailing weather as “Wind South Westerly up to 30 kts, QNH 1019, Temp 18º”. The PIC of TRA 197 reconfirmed twice if the wind was maximum, up to 30 Kts and currently South Westerly-25kts. The crew was discussing about the bad weather being encountered and the PIC himself voiced his dissatisfaction about the behavior of other pilots who conduct VFR flights in such unfavorable weather. The CVR recordings reveal that the aircraft was encountering clouds and the PIC was trying his best to remain clear of the clouds. During the course of flight, TRA 197 hadn’t reported any abnormalities encountered and neither any technical defect on aircraft either to Jomsom tower or Pokhara Tower. As per CVR, PIC was searching for light and brighter areas and adamantly heading towards it. As per CVR and V2 tracker data, the aircraft was maintaining 12000 ft and was in a climbing attitude. During the continuous attempts of crew to avoid the clouds with Terrain Avoidance and Warning System [TAWS] inhibited, the aircraft met with an unfortunate CFIT accident into the rocky terrain at an altitude of 4050 meter AMSL at Sanusare Mountain, Thasang Rural Municipality, Mustang. As per V2 tracker, last position of 9N-AET was 7.7 nm SW of Jomsom Airport. The aircraft was completely destroyed by the impact and there were no survivors.

The airplane was departing Chongqing-Jiangbei Airport on a regular schedule service to Nyingchi, Tibet, carrying 113 passengers and a crew of nine. During the takeoff run from runway 03, the captain encountered an unexpected situation and decided to abandon the takeoff procedure. He initiated an emergency braking manoeuvre when the airplane started to deviate to the left. It veered off runway, went through a grassy area, lost its undercarriage and both engines before coming to rest on a parallel taxiway, bursting into flames. 36 occupants were injured while all others evacuated safely. The aircraft was destroyed.

The airplane departed Kunming-Wujiaba Airport at 1315LT on a schedule service (flight MU5735) to Guangzhou, carrying 123 passengers and a crew of nine. At 1420LT, while cruising at an altitude of 29,100 feet, the aircraft entered an uncontrolled descent until 7,400 feet then climbed to 8,600 feet. It finally entered a steep descent and crashed almost two minutes later in a vertical attitude on hilly and wooded terrain located some 20 km southwest of Wuzhou. The airplane disintegrated on impact and all 132 occupants were killed. Two days after the accident, the CVR was found while the DFDR was found on March 27.