The dangers of flying in Nepal’s treacherous Himalayan terrain was highlighted again on Saturday when an Ecureuil helicopter belonging to Fishtail Air crashed near Ama Dablam, killing two crew members. The Eurocopter AS 350 had flown to the 6,812 m high mountain near Mt Everest to rescue a team of Japanese climbers.
The helicopter rescued two climbers and brought them down to Lukla and had returned to the mountain when it appeared to “fall out of the sky”, according to eye-witnesses. The aircraft was piloted by Capt Sabin Basnyat, an experienced helicopter pilot with over 4,500 hours of flying various types of choppers. Also on board was Purna Awale, an aircraft engineer.
Fishtail Air has a fleet of five helicopters, including four Ecureuils, two of them high-performance aircraft for high altitude rescue. The crash comes three months after 14 people were killed when an Agni Air Dornier aircraft on a flight to Lukla crashed in bad weather near Kathmandu. Another rescue helicopter of Fishtail Air is said to reached the crash site and retrieved the bodies of the two crew members.
Meanwhile, a Yeti Airlines Jetstream 41 aircraft burst its tyres while landing at Pokhara airport on Saturday afternoon, but no one was hurt.The aircraft with designation 9N-AJC was towed to the apron and passengers accommodated on other flights.