>

You can tell it's not a Boeing plane, because they didn't mention it in the headline.
Anyone know what they were flying? >

ATR-72 >

Part of that seems to be that it's a low cost regional plane operated by a lot of small regional airlines. Perfectly good planes can become death traps when poorly maintained, and small regional airlines in far flung parts of the world can have shocking maintenance standards.
It's hard to know without analysis done, but I suspect this is going to come down to maintenance. >

And may be flying into more difficult airstrips due to the airline size as well. Not sure how this exact one in Nepal is, but some of them are pretty extreme. >

Nepal has a few high altitude airports that can be considered dangerous because of hills surrounding. However, this flight was from Kathmandu to Pokhara, a relatively safer route. 
Considering that the captain(pilot) had 20+ years of experience, a recording shows what seem to be stalling and spiraling left side- this likely was equipment failure >

If a redditor spot bots, then why does reddit itself not spot and deal with them immediately? >

I'm from Nepal and let me tell you, All these domestic airlines buy planes on auctions that are literally on their way to boneyard. No amount of maintenance is keeping these trash cans from breaking down at some point. This is all down to the government for allowing these airlines to fly out of commissioned planes and the airlines for implementing shortcuts in maintenance and repairs. >

Yeah, Ive flown Yeti, Tarah, and Bhudda air, and there's no real difference despite the ads, all the planes are a few flights from the junkyards
Last spring I was visiting family in the Terai and when I flew back to KTM the plane had a partially busted door, and mosquitos got in and mobbed everyone for the entire flight, also because there's no jetbridge. >

Tara is the subsidiary of Yeti airlines which is infamous for their crash records thats why they split it for good image of their parent company. >

And tax purposes
But now Yeti can't escape that infamy either >

The video from the inside is the most horrifying thing i’ve seen online in a while >

I’ve had a pretty bad fear of flying for a very long time and I’ve found myself morbidly curious in the pst about reading pilot cockpit transcripts and such….I really really don’t want to watch the video but I’m worried what I’m imagining is worse than what it shows.
Can someone describe what happens in it for me so I don’t cave and watch it and regret it forever? >

I am terrified of flying and am leaving the country on a long flight next week for the first time since before Covid. I had to watch the video because my fear forces me to. 
I watched the video without sound on twitter and it was okay to watch for me. It was calm and okay and then chaos and the phone sort of falls down so you can’t see the window anymore and you see an explosion/smoke. The comments said the sounds were the worst part by far. So if you NEED to watch it I suggest making sure the sound is muted to avoid that. >

That’s helpful and thank you for the tip. Sometimes the fear outweighs the rational part in my brain telling me this isn’t something I want to have burned into my brain, so I get you. I hope you’re flight goes smoothly and you aren’t too anxious during! >

Oh I understand completely with your fear. I totally get the fear outweighing the rational part of your brain. 
Thanks for the thoughts - my doctor actually prescribed me something to take to help my anxiety during the flight. Hopefully that helps. >

That’s what I’ve resorted to after years and years of skipped flights and/or panic attacks. It’s helped me so much. I still get nervous but not in the debilitating way it would be without the medication! >

I think we’d get along in real life
But maybe shouldn’t sit together on flights >

Hahaha I’ve had a few people in my life say that they are also now more scared of flying after a flight with me so I could only imagine the levels we could hype each other up to 😬🤣 >

I can totally see that (from both our sides - I’d probably make you worse too). Thank god my SO is completely fine with flying and can help chill me out and I don’t make him worse. >

That certainly helps! Good luck and I hope you’re taking a fun trip! >

That video terrified me! >

Yeh prob one of the most insane things ive ever seen. It happened so quick. Kinda makes me wish I didn’t fly almost every week…. >

Do you fly in a (this is going to come out wrong, not as intended) Western country or sector? Smaller Eurasian countries like Nepal are known for poorly regulated aviation, whereas contemporary western regions have significant and robust regulations. The FAA, EASA and other similar entities have much stricter rules, and subsequently much safer environments. >

Nah, generally domestically around Indonesia , and when I gotta go back to Australia once every couple months. But when I fly domestically in Indo I always go for the better airline. No way I’d ever fly Lion again after the couple crashes they had recently. >

Does that mean the poor guy that was smiling in that video is dead. >

Indeed. There’s 4 unaccounted for but 0 survivors found, and there’s a fair chance there’s nothing of those 4 left to identify them, or they were washed away in the gorge where the front half fell. He’s gone. >

he was so happy to be flying 😔 RIP. >

It was absolutely chilling to watch. And so fast they hardly would’ve had time to contemplate what was unfolding. Just awful 😣 >

Flying in and out of Kathmandu is an interesting experience. The flight attendant told me that the reason that our flight immediately got in the air was because the run way was in poor condition. This was in 2015 about a week before the big earthquake. >

I remember being on a return flight January 2014 from KL to Kathmandu. The pilot told us on the way that it was very misty in Kathmandu and that there would be a chance that we would have to fly all the way back or in a nearby country. Eventually conditions improved and we could go ahead. That descent was the scariest one I've ever been in and I've flown in and out of Kathmandu quite a lot! Couldn't see anything left and right, v heavy turbulence to the point I heard some whoop whoop noises. But I think that could have also been the landing gear being prepped.
Suddenly you'd see hillsides left and right and before we knew it we were under the clouds and almost about to land. 
I don't think we flew with a nepali airline. >

This is the best tl;dr I could make, original reduced by 86%. (I'm a bot)


At least 68 people were confirmed dead and hope faded for any survivors after a plane with 72 onboard crashed in Nepal, the Himalayan country's deadliest aviation disaster in three decades.
Footage shared on social media, which appeared to be shot shortly after the crash, showed the plane engulfed in flames on the ground as black smoke billowed into the sky from debris strewn across the crash site.
In May 2022, all 22 people onboard a plane operated by Nepali carrier Tara Air died when it crashed, and in March 2018, 51 people died when a US-Bangla Airlines plane crashed near Kathmandu.


Extended Summary | FAQ | Feedback | Top keywords: crash^#1 Nepal^#2 plane^#3 aircraft^#4 people^#5 >

Jesus. Surprised media outlets are putting that out there even with a warning. I had to hit stop. >

What do you mean lol, there’s a warning sign everywhere. >

Summary for people before they watch: Guy is smiling taking in the sights while filming out the cabin window and around himself, some commotion and noise, lots of blurred movement (think the plane rolled and he drops his phone), crash noises, lots of flames/fire, sound of engines winding down, ends with camera more focused in the flames and random debris. >

All within circa 15 second. Jesus the end was hard to watch. Within seconds, everything is a burning inferno. I feel so sorry for the victims. >

I was staying with a friend in Brazil when this happened. His guest room - the room I was staying in — had a big window that faced the airport. It was some distance away, obviously, but it was close enough that I heard the plane approaching (sounded completely unremarkable, and I had been hearing planes coming and going for days), then I saw an orange glow out of the corner of my eye and heard an explosion just as I was turning to see what the glow was. At least that’s how I remember it, I’m not sure why I saw the glow first and then heard the explosion. 
The actual building that got hit was not visible from the apartment, so I didn’t actually see the fire or the wreckage or anything. Just a lot of smoke and a horrible but somewhat faint smell like an electrical fire. 
Just knowing that I had heard what were essentially the last seconds of like 500 people’s lives really fucked me up. I still get anxious when I hear planes flying overhead. It was so fucked.
Edit: forgot to mention that I’m terrified of flying but not because of that incident. It was 9/11 that caused my fear of flying, because I know airplanes are perfectly safe, but it only takes one person to deliberately (or accidentally by making a mistake or whatever) crash one. So I trust the machines, but not the people in them. I know it’s highly unlikely that I’ll ever end up on a plane with a terrorist or suicidal pilot or whatever, but Jesus Christ do I hate flying. I do it anyway, though. Can’t let fear control my life. >


At least that’s how I remember it, I’m not sure why I saw the glow first and then heard the explosion. 

The speed of light is way faster than the speed of sound. Depending on how far away the crash was it makes sense that you saw the glow before the sound of the explosion reached you >

I can’t believe that didn’t occur to me, d’oh. >

In a situation such as this what is it that’s likely to kill you? Is it the impact of the crash itself? Are some of them likely alive after the crash but other factors such as lack of oxygen are what ultimately lead to death? 
I’m not certain what kind of forces are involved with a crash like this so just curious. >

They were on approach and way below 10k feet. No problem breathing. Plane fell into a canyon and was ripped into pieces. No way to avoid it when youre inside :( >

I’m trying not to sound insensitive. But at the same time still curious if it’s possible to see if they died from impact, or possibly from asphyxiation from the fires around them. >

there’s video circulating from inside the plane at moment of crash and briefly after >

link? >

If anyone would like to describe the video so I don’t have to watch that’d be neato. Thank you. >

Calm. Terror. Fire. Quiet. >

The video of the crash was horrifying.  Those poor people >

Watching the video, it looks like there's a large right aileron input exactly as they start to roll to the left. Probably the autopilot (EDIT: just the pilot. Thank you to the Multiple People who reminded me visual approach is manual) trying to correct for a one-wing stall.
Always important to remember that Nepal is NASTY when it comes to flying. The terrain limits airspace and runway lengths and can create freak gusts that will stall aircraft just like this. Pilot error is probably a factor but considering how asymmetric this stall is I would not be surprised to hear that a freak gust was involved. >

Note: I only have minimal experience working on my PPL (and it was a long time ago) and only play on flight sims now so take whatever I say with a grain of salt.
From what I understand, he requested a different runway than what was initially planned, which (to me) does suggest that wind might have been a factor in this. But I see a lot of people suggesting it was a left engine failure.
I’d wager he wasn’t on autopilot. He was on an approach to the runway, and I have no idea if they even have ILS at that airport (I don’t have navigraph so I can’t check). 
I think the correct thing to do would’ve been to just go hard on right rudder and gently turn right. But as you said, human instinct just kinda takes over. Pilot tries turning right to correct the stall, but ends up exacerbating the situation. I’m really curious to know what his airspeed was for the approach.
Again, just an armchair pilot here so if there’s any actual pilots here, let me know if any of what I said was completely wrong. >

Speaking as an aero engineer, no WAY a left engine failure would cause a roll like that so quickly, and surely if it had failed earlier and this was the final stage of an emergency procedure things would have looked different in the cabin? It seemed very relaxed in there.
You're probably right about the autopilot though, I'd forgotten abt approach. I'd assume they did have ILS since the airport is so new but they might not have been using it since the skies were so clear. >

I mean, as a pilot and a multiengine flight instructor, yes an engine failure in a multiengine aircraft can cause that roll. If the plane is flying below Vmc (or close enough to it and the pilot fails to react appropriately), then it will yaw and proverse roll. Throughout that process, the drag vastly increases and the whole thing turns into a stall/spin.
Not saying that's what happened here, just saying an engine failure in a multiengine aircraft can cause those things to happen if not handled appropriately. >

Sorry, I didn't clarify well and looking back I might have actually misread the last message as well. I thought they were implying that an engine failure would cause a loss of lift near-instantly, like a lost wing. The reason I said I didn't think that was the case is bc as I understand it the yaw-roll-stall process from engine failure is quite gradual, which is why it's so rare for it to cause fatal crashes (only example I can think of of it getting far enough to cause an extreme roll is that Air China flight years back, and that was an autopilot masking issue iirc). And since we have video from inside the cabin where all seems calm, I really doubt the engine had failed at that point, which is from about a min before right up to impact. Surely not enough time for engine failure to be the cause? >

Aero engineer here as well. When I watched the video it looked to me like the nose pitched up immediately preceding the left wing stall.  My guess was they were already very close to stalling and that pitch up caused the stall. To me it looks like a textbook unrecoverable low altitude stall, which kills a lot of rookie pilots in smaller aircraft. It is a bit unusual to see happen in a commercial aircraft though.  I would like to know if that pitch up was caused by pilot error or some mechanical failure of the elevator controls.  I guess the investigation will tell us, but it is interesting to see the opinions of pilots and engineers in the mean time. >

They're all dead, they just can't find 4 of the bodies and they stopped looking for today. >

Yeah, totally not walking that one off.  That ravine is worse than flying into a mountain. >

The half of the plane fell into the Seti river gorge, one of the most feared river Gorge in the world, very narrow and very deep with strong water currents, there is just one way in and no one knows where it comes out. >

they definitely know where it comes out >

I feel so sad and sorry to all those who were onboard that flight. My heart and condolences go out to their families and loved ones. Wish I never watched that footage that was being streamed on that flight. To see them not knowing what is to come is just horrifying. I hope that they all are at peace 😢❤️❤️🤞👼😞 >

This is insane! By far the sketchiest flight I’ve ever been on was from the Lukla airport to the Tumlingtar airport. It was a short flight but we were on a pretty small propeller plane and caught some heavy turbulence to the point where the majority of the passengers were screaming. To make it even scarier was that about 2 weeks prior, one of the four planes this airline had (Summit Air) crashed on takeoff from Lukla. The wrecked plane was still there when I flew in. Because of that, KTM temporarily cancelled all flights to and from Lukla, so we had to take a long and uncomfortable bus ride to Khandbari to take the flight from Tumlingtar airport to Lukla. The flight back to Tumlingtar was the sketchy one. >

Am currently booked on that 10.30am flight Kathmandu to Pokhara, March 6th....gulp..... >

Booked on the March 3rd flight from Kathmandu to Lukla… feeling apprehensive is an understatement >

It’s mathematically improbable (nearly impossible) that there would be two consecutive crashes in the same region within a few days of each other. You’re good. >

Only if you assume people will change their behavior in response to the crash. If nothing changes, then the probability of a future crash is effectively also unchanged. >

Companies and pilots, plus human nature, make people become EXTREMELY careful right after these sort of thing happen and they stop cutting corners for a while. You are safest flying dates right after basically, at least for human error and substandard maintenance is involved. >

“The flight took off at 10.30am on Sunday morning and had made final contact with air traffic control at 10.50am. Seconds later it crashed on the banks of the Seti Gandaki river shortly before it was about to land at Pokhara international airport. The airport had been newly inaugurated just two weeks ago.”
I’m praying this wasn’t some failure of altimeter or ILS or something that could go horribly wrong for a newly christened airport… I wish the families healing, and peace. Rest In Peace to everyone on board. >

Saw one of the livestreams that was was shown after crash. Heart goes out to the victims. >

Yeti Airlines (the company that owns the plane that crashed) has had many crashes over the past decade. In 2022, they had another plane with fewer passengers flying to another village called Jomsom. The plane crashed and people died. >

Horrible. At least it was quick. >

I'm more surprised to know that 4 people survived that. >


Nepal plane crash with 72 onboard leaves at least 68 dead

I assume it means 4 weren't found, so, we still don't know if they survived the crash or not. >

BBC had reported that “survivors” were taken to hospital. >

Fuck man i hope if they do survive it’s a liveable life >

Yeah the survivors probably have a 90% mortality rate from the 3rd degree burns of jet fuel. Not good. >

Yes it pitches up immediately preceding loss of lift on the left wing. I'd say with almost certainty this was a stall. The question is what caused it.  Some have suggested gusty winds, and a sudden unexpected tailwind could cause a stall if it was strong enough to reduce airspeed to below stall speed, but I think that would not explain why it pitched up before the stall.  It honestly looks like pilot error, but I suppose it is possible they lost elevator control. Can't say for sure. >

Seeing the video from the inside, they barely even had time to be scared it happened SO fast. Ofc from their pov everything was in slow motion.
For people who are unsure about watching, I generally make an effort to avoid watching videos where people die and in terms of what you see/hear this video is super tame. >

It’s not gore. It’s just the context and known outcome that is haunting >

Oh don't get me wrong I didn't walk away from the video feeling good. Just feel like it is being oversold a bit. >

The video from inside the plane is horrifying. Such a sad sad accident. >

I saw a video of the live on Tiktok ☹️ didn't realise it happened today. >

I went to Nepal back in December of 2021. The country is amazing to visit, but every time I went on a flight it was nerve-racking. For Kathmandu to Pokhara, I took the bus. Even though it took longer, still felt safer. >

RIP
Was on the Yeti flight from Bokala to Kathmandu once. the security guard at the entrance to building stopped me, and said you need to see official and I followed him to the office. and the staff asked me to pay cash for the ticket. I didn't give it another thought and I just paid. And while waiting for the flight, another security guard approached me asking how much I paid for the ticket. Then I realized what's going on. >

Did people actually survive this? >

72 people were onboard. 68 are confirmed dead and 4 are reported missing. Missing as in they can’t find the bodies, they do not believe any of those 4 people to be alive. >

I took this exact flight back in 2014.  We flew through a storm leaving Kathmandu and it was terrifying.  I'm sorry to hear about this crash.  But to be honest, when I took a bus back to Kathmandu from Pokhara, I think that was scarier. >

Well this doesn’t help with my flight anxiety 😦 >

:( >

In the video it looks like the pilot somehow stalled the aircraft. It veered sharply to the left. That’s not normal. Airspeed looked very slow >

AOA looked high too >

Jeez, I just saw someone livestream this crash. Fucking horrific >

lots of video of this, both from ground, and people on board, pretty horrifying anf chilling. Even for me and my job is to look for crash aircraft and body recovery >

It will help in the investigation.  Recover of the wreckage will be horrendous. >

yea it will, looks like a engine lost, asymetric lift is my early guess, lots of video of other crashes with those issues and it looks identical >

Sending all the sympathy I have to offer on this difficult day.RIP, condolences offered. >

Fascinating to me as someone who works in the biz. 
They say dangerously low, but from the window we can see it’s at a normal height. 
The country is plagued by poor safety standard and whatnot. So that’s at play, along with changing conditions perhaps. 
The airport was also brand new. What are the odds the pilots had never flown there, approached too low, clipped something and went down?  I’m 100% speculating but being only 15-20 seconds away from landing as written, there’s no way they should’ve gone down in such a blaze. If anything you’d think they’d be able to crash land on/just off the runway or something. >

Video's clear enough to see they didn't hit anything, but they are going SLOW. Stall makes sense. >

Yea I only just now saw a ground video, didn’t hit anything. >

This does not help my flight anxiety. >

Rest in peace >

So sad. Nepal needs more money to develop its infrastructure >

Very sad 😢. >

I wouldn’t take a plane ride anywhere near Nepal. Their record is atrocious. >

I couldn’t bring myself to watch the video of the man live-streaming it. It’s already sad enough reading the comments on them describing it. I did watch the video of the crash at what looked like a construction site. Despite the camera being out of view of when the plane crashed, It’s still horrifying watching 72 people living their last minute of life and hear the horrifying audio of the plane hitting the ground as onlookers scream.
May everyone onboard Rest In Peace and my condolences to their loved ones. >

Livestream of the crash >

Awful news and leaves me curious.....roughly how frequent are there fatal crashes in the US on commercial flights? Does this not happen often, or they but on the hush-hush? >

Extremely safe. The last fatal U.S airline crash was in Buffalo in 2009. Since then there has only been one fatality. A southwest flight a couple years ago when one person was sucked halfway out. There have been many accidents  in other countries or by other non U.S airliners since then, but none with U.S air carriers. >

Interestingly that accident was a very similar aircraft type (a dash 8, also a high wing twin turboprop) that stalled on approach to landing. >

Public should be told about problems with planes before booking a flight on one! >

problems with planes, or problems with pilots...? this airplane crashed, as the majority do, due to operator incompetence: it was stalled at low altitude, despite very favorable conditions. pilot error, 100%. >

I read that there had been maintenance problems >

i read stupid shit all the time on the internet. especially in reddit. >

I'm guessing the camera man didn't make it? >

At least? >

I saw the onboard video, surprised that they think any of them may have survived. I guess they just havent identified some remains yet? >

The Kathmandu local airport out of all my travels in the world is the single worst airport I have ever experienced. Just chaos and ineptitude. >

Pure pilot error. >

Not unlikely given the videos but let's wait for the report before saying anything too confidently. >

Never getting in a plane, nope. >

You’re telling me someone survived that shit!? >

No. There were 72 people on board. 68 have been confirmed dead, 4 missing. When they say missing they mean they can’t find the bodies, they don’t believe any of those 4 people are alive. >

There is absolutely no scenario where it is not the pilot’s fault for stalling and flipping over that high off the ground. Whether or not he was fighting a mechanical issue, there is never any excuse to allow the plane to slow that much and not lower the nose. The pilot had no business being in an airplane. This kind of thing makes me furious. >

How about you wait until the investigation has finished before drawing the conclusion it was 100% the pilots fault. What if the controls became stuck which is why it flipped on its side? It's impossible to know who's at fault yet. >

There is nothing that’s going to come out of that investigation that exonerates the pilot for stalling at 500 feet and flipping over. We’ve seen this over and over and over and over. The pilot panics and holds the nose up as the airplane starts to descend. 
Every licensed pilot knows you’re better off nosing over and smashing into buildings with the airplane under control than doing what we saw here. It’s the most basic gut reaction that they try to beat out of you on day one of pilot training. Yet there have been dozens of final reports that confirm exactly what we all initially thought. 
Save this comment and get back to me when the report comes out. It’s gonna be a mechanical failure that distracted them, they only realized how slow they were when they started losing altitude, and their knee-jerk reaction was to reef the nose up, which led to a nasty stall. >

Not the guy you replied to, but I’ve saved it. I’m curious to know how accurate this was when we get a published report. >

If this were anywhere close to the first time that egregious pilot panic at 500 feet doomed everyone on board then I wouldn’t be as confident as I am. >

Sadly my knowledge of plane crashes comes from 2-3 documentaries I’ve seen that I barely remember, so you won’t get much discussion out of me. Sounds like you’re a lot more interested and read-up on the subject than most, so I’m curious to see if you were spot on this time. >

I’m an airline pilot. And a former military pilot. >

Curious if you also watch Air Crash Investigations. I’ve watched most of them and I’m really going to be curious about what they uncover here although you’re probably spot on. Unfortunately what they teach loses out when panic takes over. 😔 >

I don’t know why you are getting downvoted to oblivion, but there’s a reason why some airlines from developing countries are banned from flying to EU, the US or other OECD countries. 
Maybe you could have worded it much nicer though. But as someone who travels a lot, I am extremely careful which airlines I choose. Countries with a lot of air traffic or plane culture are usually great when it comes to pilots and general safety (maybe not when it comes to customer service though lol). Air traffic controllers from countries that have a lot of flights is also a big factor as they tend to be more experienced and professional. Countries that barely have data or rigorous reporting when conducting investigations after an airplane disaster is also something to note. There’s also a good reason why US air force pilots or British air force pilots are in demand as instructors internationally specially among gulf based airlines. So an air force background is also a good thing to consider.
At the end of the day, air travel regardless of country is still one of the safest mode of transportation. But it’s still good to be cautious and aware in regards to safety when it comes to airlines. >

Because they linked some unfunny comedy shit >

Oh no, an offensive comedy sketch *clutches pearls >

It's not offensive lmao its not funny >

Bloddy corruption and outdated plane cause this crash.
Rip to the aviation. >

Skill issue >

Maybe not pay pilots like fast food workers?
Edit: who downvotes this an airline exec? >

Because it’s completely irrelevant. We do not yet know for certainty whether this was mechanical or pilot error (or a combination.) not to mention it has literally nothing to do with their salary. 
Further down the comment chain you go.