Nepal plane crash 'caused by human error'

Kathmandu: The chief rescuer at Nepal's international airport on Monday blamed human error for a plane crash that killed 16 holidaymakers returning from a tour around Mount Everest at the weekend.
The Buddha Air aircraft carrying 10 Indians, two Americans, a Japanese citizen and three local tourists crashed into a hill in dense fog on Sunday on the outskirts of the capital, killing all on board including three crew.
Bimlesh Lal Karna, head of the rescue department at Tribhuvan International Airport, ruled out mechanical failure, saying: "If there was a technical problem, there should have been some hint of it."
"The plane had already flown for 45 minutes. No problem was noticed during that period. The bad weather prompted the pilot to take the wrong decision," he said.
Buddha Air, the private airline operating the tour, said it had launched its own investigation into the crash of its Beechcraft 1900D plane while a government inquiry team said it would take three months to report on the cause.
The Kathmandu-based airline said it had grounded Monday's flights as a mark of respect.
Investigators found the black box flight recorder several hours after the crash.
Industry insiders have speculated that the pilot of Sunday's tour may have lost control after deciding to fly below the dense cloud line minutes before he was due to land.
Several local media reports suggested the pilot had descended to 5,400 feet (1,500 metres) at a point where the minimum safe altitude was at least 1,000 feet higher.
26/09/11 AFP/Montrealgazette.com

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Categories: Foreign Sep 2011, Safety Sep 2011