Site Lukla Airport, Nepal Fatalities 18 Flight origin Kathmandu, Nepal Date 8 October 2008 Survivor 1 Crew count 3 | Passengers 16 Survivors 1 Destination Lukla Airport, Nepal Number of deaths 18 Passenger count 16 | |
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Summary Controlled flight into terrain Similar Sudan Airways Flight 109, 2008 Macedonian Armed Fo, Hewa Bora Airways Flight 122, Blue Wing Airlines 2008 pla, Iran Aseman Airlines Fl | ||
Yeti Airlines Flight 103 was a De Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter Series 300 registered as 9N-AFE. The flight crashed on final approach to Tenzing-Hillary Airport in the town of Lukla in eastern Nepal on 8 October 2008. The flight originated from Tribhuvan International Airport in Kathmandu.
Crash
The airport is the main access to the Mount Everest region in Nepal, and is a notoriously difficult landing, with only 1,500 feet (460 m) of steeply sloped runway just 65 feet (20 m) wide and a steep approach path. Due to bad weather conditions and heavy fog, the pilot could not see anything but still tried to land. He came in too low and too far left, which caused the aircraft to crash into the mountain.
Eighteen of the dead were reported to be tourists. Twelve of the passengers on the flight were German and two Australian. The only survivor was Surendra Kunwar, the captain of the aircraft, who was dragged free from the wreckage shortly after the crash and was flown to Kathmandu for emergency treatment.