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ABC News
ABC News
National
Dannielle Maguire

Video of the Nepal plane crash shows the aircraft's final seconds. Here's what aviation experts have to say about it

Diwas Bohora was sitting on the terrace at his home in the Nepalese tourist city of Pokhara when he noticed a plane approaching the airport at low altitude.

WARNING: This story contains content that some readers may find distressing. 

He began filming, not knowing what he was about to capture on his phone. 

Almost immediately after he hit the record button, something went horribly wrong — the plane crashed into a ravine nearby. 

Investigators are expected to hand down a report on the crash within 45 days, but aviation experts have drawn early conclusions based on Bohora's footage

What do we know about the crash so far?

As the twin-engine ATR 72 was approaching Pokhara Airport, it "cruised at 12,500 feet and was on a normal descent" before the crash, an airport spokesperson said.

Officials say none of the 72 people on board survived. 

Searchers have found both the cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder, which is commonly known as a black box, but haven't given any details to what the devices show. 

Some footage taken by passengers inside the plane has also surfaced online. 

A passenger on board the Yeti Airlines plane that crashed near Pokhara livestreamed the final moments of the flight.

Neil Hansford, an aviation consultant from Strategic Aviation Solutions, said the black box was typically the first point of call when seeking information about plane crashes that occurred in remote areas. 

"Generally, that's the only thing you've got," he said. 

But because the Pokhara crash happened in view of so many witnesses, there's more insight into what happened. 

"Everybody could see this," Mr Hansford said.

"There's so much footage, you start to come to a very quick solution."

Khum Bahadur Chhetri, a local resident, said he watched from the roof of his house as the crash unfolded.

"I saw the plane trembling, moving left and right, and then suddenly it nosedived and it went into the gorge," he said.

Mr Bohora's footage showed the plane flying low before the footage cut out. 

"The plane suddenly tilts, just like a fighter plane tilts to dodge a missile," he said.

"I saw that and I was shocked that it's surely going to come towards our homes."

Footage from the ground shows the final seconds before the plane crashed.

The plane appeared to be making a normal approach but, within a matter of seconds, it crashed. 

"It would have been very quick for [the passengers] and for the pilot," Mr Hansford said.

What could be the cause of the crash?

"I think this one is going to get down to what's called a stall," Mr Hansford said. 

"[The pilot had] been coming in too slow.

"As soon as you bank to the left, then obviously you lose all the wind lift and it goes down like a stone. 

"Once you get into a stall at low altitude and low speed, there's generally only one consequence."

He said the aircraft would have given the pilot stall warnings, and he believed the crash was due to human error. 

"When you're at low speed, you don't start making heavily banked turns," he said. 

"I think [the pilot's] level of competence had been reached."

James Nixon, a retired A380 captain, said flight recorders would provide greater clarity about what happened inside the cockpit.

Investigators will use the device to "find out why this most senior captain allowed the speed to decay on the approach and for the wing to stall," he said.

"Because when you stall an aircraft, it's no longer [an] aircraft, it's like a grand piano dropped out of a tall building."

What else could have gone wrong?

Mr Hansford said from the videos he had seen, there appeared to be clear skies at the time of the crash so low visibility did not appear to be a factor.

Based on the size of the blaze that followed the crash, he also didn't believe the plane was low on fuel. 

"The aircraft's highly reliable," Mr Hansford said. 

"This is their basic stock in trade, doing these sorts of short routes."

He said there were two runways at the airport — the new international one and the traditional domestic runway. 

"I don't know what runway [the plane] was approaching," he said.

"We have to assume it was the old domestic one … this was a domestic flight."

Why are there so many plane crashes in Nepal?

Mountainous terrain and sudden weather changes make Nepal a dangerous place to fly, experts say. 

"The weather changes so quickly up there so you can lose visibility," Mr Hansford said

"Obviously when you've got those mountains, the clouds start to clamp down. 

"The Nepalese authorities don't have very good weather forecasting for aviation."

Mr Nixon said certain Nepalese airports were difficult to land in. 

"There are airports where you have to be specially qualified on that airport to go in and out of there," he said. 

"So I flew for 31 years but I wasn't good enough to fly in there.

"So you have to do really special training to fly in and out of these tricky airports because of these winds. It just moves around all the time."

The European Union has banned another Nepalese airline, Nepali Airlines, from its airspace since 2013, citing safety concerns.

This is Nepal's deadliest plane crash since 1992, when a Pakistan International Airlines Airbus A300 crashed into a hillside on approach to Kathmandu, killing all 167 people on board.

A timeline of Nepal's deadly aircraft crashes

Nearly 350 people have died in plane or helicopter crashes in Nepal since 2000.

Here's a timeline of those crashes, compiled by Reuters News Agency with one entry added by the ABC: 

  • May 29, 2022: Sixteen Nepalis, four Indians and two Germans died on a De Havilland Canada DHC-6-300 Twin Otter aircraft that crashed 15 minutes after taking off from Pokhara, 125km west of Kathmandu. Operated by Yeti unit Tara Air, the aircraft made its first flight in April 1979, according to flight-tracking website Flightradar24
  • February 27, 2019: A helicopter crashed in bad weather in eastern Nepal, killing all seven people on board, including the tourism minister
  • March 12, 2018: Fifty-one of 71 people on a Bangladeshi airliner operated by US-Bangla Airlines died when it crashed in cloudy weather as it came in to land at the Nepalese capital's hill-ringed airport. It was a Bombardier Q400 series aircraft.
  • February 26, 2016: Two people were feared dead after a small plane crashed in western Nepal's Kalikot district. It was operated by Kasthamandap Airlines
  • February 24, 2016: A small plane crashed in bad weather, killing all 23 people on board. The Twin Otter aircraft, operated by Tara Air, was on a flight from Pokhara
  • February 16, 2014: All 18 people on a small plane that crashed in bad weather were killed. The Twin Otter aircraft was operated by state-run Nepal Airlines Corp
  • September 28, 2012: A small propeller-driven Dornier aircraft struck a bird and crashed shortly after take-off from Kathmandu, killing 19 people, including seven British and five Chinese passengers
  • September 25, 2011: A small plane carrying foreign tourists to view Mount Everest crashed in bad weather near Kathmandu, killing all 19 people on board. The Beech aircraft was operated by private airline Buddha Air
  • December 16, 2010: A small plane crashed in the Himalayan foothills of remote east Nepal, killing all 22 people onboard. The Twin Otter aircraft was operated by Tara Air
  • August 24, 2010: Fourteen people — including four Americans, a Japanese and British national — were killed when their small plane crashed in bad weather in Nepal. It was operated by privately held Agni Air
  • October 8, 2008: A small Twin Otter plane crashed in the remote mountains of north-east Nepal, killing at least 18 people, mostly foreigners
  • March 4, 2008: Four UN arms monitors were among at least 10 people killed in a helicopter crash in Nepal
  • September 23, 2006: A helicopter crashed in remote Nepal, killing all 24 people on board. Among those onboard were several members of the WWF, including Australian Jill Bowling, and some of the most-respected conservationists in Nepal
  • June 21, 2006: A Twin Otter passenger plane operated by Yeti Airlines crashed minutes before landing in the west of the country, killing all nine people onboard
  • May 25, 2004: A Twin Otter cargo plane crashed in the Mount Everest region, killing its three crew. It was operated by Yeti Airlines 
  • August 22, 2002: Another Twin Otter plane, carrying foreign tourists, slammed into a mountain in bad weather in Nepal, killing all 18 people on board. It was operated by Shangrila Air
  • July 17, 2002: Four people were feared dead after a twin-engined aircraft crashed into a mountain in west Nepal minutes before it was due to land
  • July 27, 2000: A Canadian-built Twin Otter passenger plane crashed in western Nepal, killing all 25 people on board. It was operated by state-owned Royal Nepal Airlines

ABC/Reuters

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