Kathmandu: The authorities confirmed that the airline Bombardier UBG-211 crash that occurred in March last year was found to be due to tobacco smoking by the pilot in the cockpit, despite restrictions.
As per ANI reports the panel probing the incident were going through the Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR) and came to this conclusion that the Pilot In Command (PIC) was smoking in the cockpit during the flight.
Since the department and authorities were not able to conclude whether the safety violation lead to the fatal accident, an Accident Investigation Commission was formed to probe the incident and find out the reason behind the crash.
The Commission has now found that the accident happened due to complete disorientation and a complete loss of situational awareness in the part of the crew member said the report.
The aircraft crashed immediately after landing at Tribhuwan International Airport (TIA) killing 51 including 45 passengers, 2 cockpit crew and 2 cabin crew out of the total 67 people on board.
The Investigation Commission submitted the report to the Nepali Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation which published the report later.
“Contributing to this the aircraft was offset to the proper approach path that led to maneuvers in a very dangerous and unsafe attitude to align with the runway. The landing was completed in sheer desperation after sighting the runway, at very close proximity and very low altitude. There was no attempt made to carry out a go-around when a go-around seemed possible until the last instant before touchdown on the runway,” the statement read.
Department of Forensic Medicine in Kathmandu carried out the postmortem of the deceased and revealed that the death of the passengers was a result of head injuries caused by the blunt force of the crash.
The report further says that the CVR data revealed some confusion in communication within the terminal area between the crew and the air traffic controller (VNKT Tower) regarding intentions of the flight crew and clearances for runways 02 and 20. The crew and the control tower of the TIA are also blamed for the crash.
On March 12 last year, the US Bangla Airlines while operating a scheduled passenger flight crashed about 442 meters southeast of the touchdown point of runway 20.
