Agni Air Flight 101 was a regional flight between

Kathmandu , pushpin_map = Nepal Bagmati Province#Nepal#Asia , coordinates = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = , subdivision_type1 = Province , subdivision_name1 = Bagmati Prov ...

and

Lukla Lukla ( ne, लुक्ला ) is a small town in the Khumbu Pasanglhamu rural municipality of the Solukhumbu District in the Province No. 1 of north-eastern Nepal. Situated at , it is a popular place for visitors to the Himalayas near Mount Eve ...

, Nepal, that crashed on 24 August 2010, killing all 14 people on board. Twenty minutes after take-off, the flight crew had reported a technical problem. Contact with the aircraft was lost shortly after. The aircraft crashed south of Kathmandu. The investigation into the accident found that pilot fell victim to spatial disorientation following the loss of flight instruments after both generators failed. Backup battery power was exhausted prematurely due to the crew using an outdated checklist.

History of the flight

Flight 101 was traveling on a flight between

Tribhuvan International Airport Tribhuvan International Airport (Nepali language, Nepali: त्रिभुवन अन्तर्राष्ट्रिय विमानस्थल) (, colloquially referred to as TIA) is an international airport located in Kathmandu, B ...

in Kathmandu, Nepal, and

Tenzing-Hillary Airport Tenzing-Hillary Airport , also known as Lukla Airport, is a domestic airport and altiport in the town of Lukla, in Khumbu Pasanglhamu, Solukhumbu District, Province No. 1 of Nepal. It gained worldwide fame as it was rated the most dangerou ...

in Lukla, Nepal. Twenty minutes after take-off, the crew of the aircraft contacted

air traffic control Air traffic control (ATC) is a service provided by ground-based air traffic controllers who direct aircraft on the ground and through a given section of controlled airspace, and can provide advisory services to aircraft in non-controlled airs ...

reporting technical problems and requesting a return to Kathmandu. Controllers then diverted the aircraft to

Simara Airport Simara Airport ( ne, सिमरा विमानस्थल) is a domestic airport located in Jitpur Simara serving Bara District, a district in Madhesh Province in Nepal. It also serves Birgunj, Nepal's fifth biggest city. History T ...

Pipara Simara Pipara Simara (also Pipra Simra or Simara or Simra; Nepali: पिपरा सिमरा ''or'' सिमरा) is a town in Jitpursimara sub-metropolitan city in Bara District in Province No. 2 of south-eastern Nepal. The formerly Village ...

, Nepal, due to poor weather conditions at Kathmandu. Aviation officials said although the flight crew reported technical problems, they did not declare an emergency or request priority clearance to land. Five minutes after reporting technical problems,

radar Radar is a detection system that uses radio waves to determine the distance ('' ranging''), angle, and radial velocity of objects relative to the site. It can be used to detect aircraft, ships, spacecraft, guided missiles, motor vehicles, we ...

and radio contact with the aircraft was lost. The aircraft crashed in the town of Shikharpur,

Narayani Narayani may refer to: * Narayani (deity), another name for Lakshmi * Narayani, an epithet of Yogamaya * Narayani River, or Gandaki River, in Nepal * Narayani Temple, in Narayani village, near Khalikote, Odisha, India * Narayani Zone, a former a ...

, around south of Kathmandu. Witnesses reported there was no noise from the engines prior to the crash. The force of the crash spread wreckage in an area with a diameter of around ; and the aircraft created a crater deep upon crashing.

Aircraft

The aircraft involved was a twin turboprop

Dornier 228 The Dornier 228 is a twin-turboprop STOL utility aircraft, designed and first manufactured by Dornier GmbH (later DASA Dornier, Fairchild-Dornier) from 1981 until 1998. Two hundred and forty-five were built in Oberpfaffenhofen, Germany. In 19 ...

bearing Nepalese registration 9N-AHE. It was built by Dornier Flugzeugwerke in 1984 and was operated by Skyline Airways before being purchased by Agni Air in 2006.

Casualties

All on board died in the crash; they included eight Nepalese citizens, as well as six foreigners. Of the foreigners, four were American women, one was a Briton, and one was Japanese.

Aftermath

Rescue operations were immediately undertaken after it became clear that the plane had crashed, although efforts were hampered by the fact that the crash site was around two hours away from the closest location of police forces. Heavy rains in the area also led to the risk of flooding and landslides. Personnel from the

Nepalese Army The Nepali Army ( ne, नेपाली सेना, translit=Nēpālī Sēnā), technically the Gorkhali Army ( ne, गोरखाली सेना, translit=Gōrakhālī Sēnā, label=none; see ''Gorkhas''), is the land service branch ...

reached the site of the crash on foot, and were responsible for gathering bodies, but due to weather conditions, helicopters were forced to land more than a mile away. Authorities announced a reward of

Rs. Rupee is the common name for the currencies of India, Mauritius, Nepal, Pakistan, Seychelles, and Sri Lanka, and of former currencies of Afghanistan, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, the United Arab Emirates (as the Gulf rupee), British East Africa, B ...

50,000 for anyone who would find equipment that would help authorities discover the cause of the crash.'Black box' found from Agni Air crash site
" ''

The Himalayan Times ''The Himalayan Times'' is an English-language broadsheet newspaper published and distributed daily in Nepal Nepal (; ne, नेपाल ), formerly the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal ( ne, सङ्घीय लोकता� ...

''. 31 August 2010. Retrieved on 17 September 2010. By 2 September, both the

cockpit voice recorder A flight recorder is an electronic recording device placed in an aircraft for the purpose of facilitating the investigation of aviation accidents and incidents. The device may often be referred to as a "black box", an outdated name which has ...

and the

flight data recorder A flight recorder is an electronic recording device placed in an aircraft for the purpose of facilitating the investigation of aviation accidents and incidents. The device may often be referred to as a "black box", an outdated name which has ...

of the crashed aircraft had been located; both were undamaged and were analysed by investigators in India.Shrestha, Dambar Krishna.
Hotel Echo's last minutes
" ''

Nepali Times ''Nepali Times'' (stylized as NEPALI Times) is an English weekly newspaper that provides reporting and commentary on Nepali politics, business, culture, travel and society in 16 pages. The weekly is aimed at the expatriate, diplomatic and busine ...

''. Issue No. 518, 3–9 September 2010. Retrieved on 17 September 2010.

Investigation

The government of Nepal formed a five-member panel to help determine the cause of the crash; the committee was instructed to submit a report on the crash within 65 days. Despite initial reports that technical issues had resulted in the accident, the cause was found to be spatial disorientation of the pilot following the loss of the

attitude indicator The attitude indicator (AI), formerly known as the gyro horizon or artificial horizon, is a flight instrument that informs the pilot of the aircraft orientation relative to Earth's horizon, and gives an immediate indication of the smallest o ...

. Flying in poor weather, that is in

instrument meteorological conditions In aviation, instrument meteorological conditions (IMC) is a flight category that describes weather conditions that require pilots to fly primarily by reference to instruments, and therefore under instrument flight rules (IFR), rather than by o ...

, the flight crew would have had to rely only on their instruments. The failure of the attitude indicator was caused by the failure of both generators and the crew using an outdated checklist. The battery was therefore drained of power in less than half the normal discharge time.

References

External links

* {{Portal bar, Aviation, Nepal Aviation accidents and incidents in 2010 Aviation accidents and incidents in Nepal 2010 in Nepal Accidents and incidents involving the Dornier 228 August 2010 events in Asia 2010 disasters in Nepal