Black box remains untraced

KATHMANDU, Aug 26: Shift managers at Kathmandu airport who coordinated air traffic control before, during and after Tuesday´s Agni Air crash say only the aircraft´s black box can reveal what led to the tragedy as the airport tower received no warning of serious technical or weather-related problems that could explain the crash.

Until the time this report was filed, the black box of the Dornier 9N-AHE aircraft remained untraced.

Generator failure?

Though flight crew had informed the tower about problems with the aircraft´s generator, airport officials rule it out as the cause of crash as the turboprop was equipped with backup batteries.

“The backup batteries were enough to last till Kathmandu,” said Purushottam Shakya, the airport´s shift manager, who oversaw Tower, Area and Approach sections of the airport when the flight took off for Lukla, was instructed to fly back to Kathmandu, and crashed.

According to Agni Air´s engineer Sarvesh Marasini, the backup batteries were capable of powering the aircraft for 30 minutes in the event of generator failure.

The backup batteries automatically come into operation in such eventuality.

The flight that took off from Kathmandu at 7:04 am was instructed to return to Kathmandu after Lukla airport reported deterioration of weather. When Captain Laxman Prakash Shah, who piloted the flight, contacted Kathmandu tower for the last time at 7:26 am, he reported that the flight was en route to Kathmandu.

Shah did not report any serious problem that could have led to the crash, according to Shakya.

“He was calm. He didn´t declare emergency, which is standard procedure in case a pilot loses control of an aircraft,” said Bimalesh Karna, another shift manager at Kathmandu airport.

Weather?

Karna also rules out weather or lightening as the reason behind the crash.

“The weather condition was safe for flying back to Kathmandu,” he said.

Lightening cannot be the cause. Had a powerful lightening struck, the aircraft would have broken to pieces on air, which was not the case. Also, powerful lightening is uncommon when it is raining, according to Karna.

Route/Altitude?

Route was also not a problem.

The aircraft stayed its course until it crashed. The south route via Makawanpur is the standard route for international flight arrivals. It is also the standard route for arrivals from Lukla in the kind of weather condition that prevailed Tuesday, according to Karna.

“For returning to Kathmandu and appearing in Kathmandu airport´s radar, the aircraft have to reach a point 16 miles south of Kathmandu. The Agni Air flight was on its way to the point, but it crashed eight miles east of that point,” said Karna.

The last time flight crew contacted the Kathmandu tower, the aircraft was at an altitude of 12,500 feet.

“For the region where the aircraft crashed, altitude above 9,500 feet is considered safe,” Karna said.

This leaves all questions left by Tuesday´s crash unanswered.

So, what happened to flight AG 101 after 7:26 am? Why did the aircraft almost nosedive into a small strip of flatland at Shikharpur? When did the pilot realize that something was seriously wrong? What were his last maneuvers to save the lives of 11 passengers, and his two colleagues?

“Only the black box can explain,” said Karna.

And only the German manufacturers of the Dornier aircraft can decode information that the black box, which remains missing, contains.

Sara´s second flight

Tuesday´s was the second flight of flight attendant Sara Sherpa after a hiatus of two months. Her first flight, which was scheduled for Monday, did not take off owing to bad weather. The second flight took her life.

A former flight attendant of Yeti Airlines, Sara had joined Agni Air nine months ago, according to Kesang Sherpa, sales manager of Agni Air.

“She joined the airline as air hostess, but later switched to the marketing department where she worked for two months. Eventually, she decided to go back to her previous role, but could not complete even a single flight,” he said.

Source: http://www.myrepublica.com/portal/index.php?action=news_details&news_id=22546