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Rescuers gather at the site of the plane crash in Pokhara on January 15, 2023. Yunish Gurung/AFP/Getty Images

The circumstances that led to Nepal’s deadliest plane crash in 30 years are still in the very early stages of investigation. But that hasn’t stopped media focus turning to the mountainous terrain and unique challenges it poses to pilots.

Almost all of the bodies of the 72 people on board, including crew, have now been recovered after the Yeti Airlines ATR-72 aircraft went down Sunday on its approach to the newly opened airport in Pokhara, a tourist destination and gateway to the Himalayas.

Assuming the accuracy of cellphone video taken just before impact, it appears that the airplane began to bank its wings at too steep an angle.…  Seguir leyendo »

It appears that the Malaysian government has not learned from its mistakes.

For Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak to announce that the debris found on Reunion Island conclusively belongs to MH370, when French authorities directly involved with the inspection of the debris in question -- a flaperon-- are calling the discovery a good supposition, is reckless. This is not about semantics. This is about responsibility.

Allow me to step out of the airline pilot box for a moment. Discussing the investigative analysis of the flaperon, a flight control surface, and how this inspection relates to the impact of the 777 with the water has been well discussed both on air and on this website.…  Seguir leyendo »

It's easy -- and perhaps tempting -- to try to draw parallels between the crash of the Germanwings Airline in the French Alps on Tuesday and previous tragedies like that of AirAsia Flight 8501, which crashed in December. After all, both incidents involved an Airbus A320. But as understandable as it is to try to draw lessons from earlier tragedies, it is also essential that we don't forget that no two accidents are ever exactly the same.

So what do we know about this specific incident? And what might have led to the obliteration of this plane, and the likely loss of all 150 people on board?…  Seguir leyendo »

The lack of definitive information about the fate of Malaysia Flight 370 has baffled and riveted expert and average person alike. Even the promise of Chinese satellite images capturing the location of crash debris turned out to be false, as Malaysian authorities said a search of the area found nothing.

Amid the muddle of speculation, possibilities and blind alleys, are there logical explanations in this mysterious disappearance? The short answer is yes. But what, of what we know so far, makes sense exactly?

First, the focus on the airplane's transponders, the device that transmits a discreet signal to Air Traffic Control (ATC) radars, might be misguided.…  Seguir leyendo »