On February 27, 2019, an

Air Dynasty Air Dynasty Heli Service Pvt. Ltd. is a helicopter airline based at Tribhuvan International Airport in Kathmandu, Nepal, operating chartered helicopter services. The company was established in 1993 and mainly carries out domestic chartered helic ...

Eurocopter AS350 B3e carrying six passengers and one pilot was scheduled to fly a domestic chartered flight from Pathibhara Devi Temple in Taplejung to Chuhandanda in Tehrathum, Nepal. The aircraft crashed at approximately 1.30 p.m. ( NPT) whilst in bad weather in Taplejung. All seven people on board died in the crash, including

Rabindra Prasad Adhikari Rabindra Prasad Adhikari ( Nepali: रबिन्द्र प्रसाद अधिकारी) (4 May 1969 – 27 February 2019) was a Nepali politician and three-time parliamentarian, belonging to the Nepal Communist Party (NCP). He was ...

, Nepal's Minister for Tourism and Civil Aviation.

Background

Minister of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation of Nepal

came to Taplejung to inspect the under-construction airport at Chuhandanda. After inspecting the airport, the fellow passengers and crew went to see one of the most significant temples in

Nepal Nepal, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mainly situated in the Himalayas, but also includes parts of the Indo-Gangetic Plain. It borders the Tibet Autonomous Region of China Ch ...

, Pathibhara Devi Temple by helicopter. After visiting the temple Adhikari and other passengers were returning to Chuhandanda in Tehrathum.

Aircraft

The aircraft involved was a Eurocopter AS350 B3e bearing the registration ''9N-AMI''. It was built by

Airbus Helicopters Airbus Helicopters SAS (formerly Eurocopter S.A., trading as Eurocopter Group) is the helicopter manufacturing division of Airbus. It is the largest in the industry in terms of revenues and turbine helicopter deliveries, holding 48% of the wo ...

in 2017 and delivered to Air Dynasty brand new.

Passengers and crew

On board the helicopter were, among the minister Adhikari, Ang Tshering Sherpa, managing director of

Yeti Airlines Yeti Airlines Pvt. Ltd. () is an airline based in Kathmandu, Nepal. The airline was established in May 1998 and received its air operator's certificate on 17 August 1998. Since 2019, Yeti Airlines is the first Carbon neutrality, carbon neutra ...

and Air Dynasty, an aide to Prime Minister Khadga Prasad Sharma Oli, two representatives of the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal, a security personnel and the captain of the aircraft.

Incident

The helicopter crash occurred due to critical weather in Taplejung,

. The crash killed all seven people on board, including Nepalese Tourism and Civil Aviation Minister Rabindra Prasad Adhikari. The pilot of the helicopter reported heavy snowfall in the area of the

airport An airport is an aerodrome with extended facilities, mostly for commercial Aviation, air transport. They usually consist of a landing area, which comprises an aerially accessible open space including at least one operationally active surf ...

and stated that he was unable to remain airborne, according to ''

The Kathmandu Post ''The Kathmandu Post'' is a major daily newspaper published in Nepal. Founded in February 1993 by Shyam Goenka, it is one of the largest English-language newspapers in the country. The newspaper is published by Kantipur Publications, the publ ...

''. After the incident

was informed at 1:30 p.m. Nepal Standard Time (NPT). The helicopter crashed at Sisne Khola, Pathibhara, Taplejung, Nepal. Nepalese police reported that Rabindra Adhikari and another passenger were in an identifiable state. Moments after the helicopter went missing, Taplejung residents reported to the police that they had heard a loud bang and seen smoke and fire in the area. Suraj Bhattarai, a witness also reported to the police "The helicopter is in pieces, and scattered all over". The helicopter caught fire after hitting Chuchche Dada and falling down to Sisne Khola.

Aftermath

The Office of the Prime Minister declared 28 February 2019 to be national mourning day in Nepal to pay respect to those who died in the helicopter crash. Nepal's

Home Minister An interior minister (sometimes called a minister of internal affairs or minister of home affairs) is a cabinet official position that is responsible for internal affairs, such as public security, civil registration and identification, emergenc ...

Ram Bahadur Thapa said "All educational institutes, government offices, diplomatic missions will remain closed with a national flag lowered half-mast to mourn the death." Thapa also said that "The national flag will be hoisted at half-staff to mourn the departed souls." The bodies of four people were brought to Suketar Airport on Wednesday afternoon. Chief District Officer of Taplejung District Anuj Bhandari said "There has been heavy snowfall. We could not take out all the bodies. We will try again tomorrow", he also added that recovering bodies in the crash site is difficult due to helicopter crash site being at the slope of a hill. Nepal's prime minister

Khadga Prasad Oli Khadga Prasad Sharma Oli (; born 22 February 1952), commonly known as K. P. Sharma Oli or simply K. P. Oli (English pronunciation: , ), is a Nepalese politician who is serving as the prime minister of Nepal since 15 July 2024. Chairman of the ...

and Pushpa Kamal Dahal told the media "The country has lost a dependable youth leader with abundant possibilities in the demise of Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Rabindra Adhikari". Mourning the loss of their managing director,

, and

Tara Air Tara Air Pvt. Ltd. is an airline headquartered in Kathmandu, Nepal. It is a subsidiary of Yeti Airlines. Tara Air was formed in 2009 using aircraft from the Yeti Airlines fleet and is based at Tribhuvan International Airport, with a secondary hub ...

cancelled all flights on 1 March 2019. The bodies of the passengers and the pilot were brought to

Kathmandu Kathmandu () is the capital and largest city of Nepal, situated in the central part of the country within the Kathmandu Valley. As per the 2021 Nepal census, it has a population of 845,767 residing in 105,649 households, with approximately 4 mi ...

on February 28 at 12:10 p.m.

Nepal Communist Party The Nepal Communist Party, abbreviated NCP (, ) was a communist party in Nepal that existed from 2018 to 2021. It was founded on 17 May 2018, from the unification of two Left-wing politics, leftist parties, Communist Party of Nepal (Unified M ...

(NCP) said all of the bodies would be cremated with state honours at Ramghat in

. Before the funeral Adhikari's body would be kept at Exhibition Centre at local Nayabazar to pay respect toward him and his body would be cremated at

Pokhara Pokhara ( ) is a metropolis, metropolitan city located in central Nepal, which serves as the capital of Gandaki Province. Named the country's "capital of tourism" it is the List of cities in Nepal, second largest city after Kathmandu, with 599,5 ...

Investigation

On 28 February, the

Government of Nepal The Government of Nepal () is the central executive authority of the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal. The government is led by the Prime Minister of Nepal, prime minister (K. P. Sharma Oli, K.P. Oli since 15 July 2024) who selects all the o ...

opened an investigation into the accident. Four months after the accident, the investigation committee released a preliminary report which blamed violations of operating procedures, such as a misbalance of weights and an inexperienced

pilot An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its Aircraft flight control system, directional flight controls. Some other aircrew, aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are al ...

, and the weather conditions for causing the crash. The AAIC concluded the accident was caused by several factors, one of which is unfavorable weather in the Pathibhara area which results in IMC (Instrument Meteorological Conditions) conditions. These adverse weather conditions caused the pilot to lose situational awareness and positive control of the helicopter, which ultimately led to a CFIT (Controlled Flight Into Terrain) accident.

References

External links

2019 Taplejung helicopter crash
on Aviation Safety Network {{DEFAULTSORT:Taplejung helicopter crash, 2019 February 2019 in Asia Aviation accidents and incidents in Nepal Aviation accidents and incidents in 2019 Accidents and incidents involving the Eurocopter AS350 Taplejung District 2019 disasters in Nepal