Kathmandu, February 1

The Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal has decided to implement new regulations to strengthen aviation safety and develop the sector in a reliable, ethical, and commercial manner.

The regulator has decided to limit above ground level (AGL) distance for aircraft while on stabilised approach, reduce flight limitation time in short take-off and landing (STOL) airports, and revoke existing provisions related to augmented flight time limitation.

According to Gyanendra Bhul, information officer for CAAN, the existing approach procedure for the domestic air operators was critically reviewed with stakeholders and decisions have been taken to enforce new regulations with immediate effect.

'The authority has decided to mandate stabilised approach for all aircraft in Nepal after reaching 500 feet above ground level during visual flight rules (VFR) operations in rural airports and 1,000 feet AGL for aircraft conducting VFR operation in other airports.

In airports with IFR systems, all aircraft apart from STOL aircraft are mandated to follow only instrumental flight rules (IFR) approach even during the day time,' Bhul told The Himalayan Times, adding that the aircraft will not be allowed to request change of runway, turn around, roll, or pitch up or down after descending to their designated level of altitude.

The authority is also set to conduct skill tests from the respective aircraft manufacturer for all aircraft examiners in the country and to revoke the augmented flight time limitation provision to avoid potential flight time crew fatigue risks. In addition, the landing limitations of STOL operations have been recommended to eight landings and eight hours a day as flight time limitation.

'CAAN has decided to conduct skill tests of all designated check pilots (DCP) from the simulation check pilot of respective aircraft manufacturing companies to clear any sort of biases seen while conducting previous tests and to revoke the provision of augmented flight time limitation to reduce fatigue risk among pilots,' Bhul explained.

'Previously, international airlines were allowed to conduct operations for 10 to 11 hours a day, while domestic airlines were limited to 10 hours and helicopters were allowed to fly for eight hours. We have decided to reduce operation hours for an aircraft to eight hours and eight landings a day,' he said, adding that the authority has decided to enforce standards and recommended practices recognised by the International Civil Aviation Organisation and further tighten some of them in the interest of flight safety following the crash of Yeti Airlines 9N-ANC in Pokhara with 72 people on board on January 15.

Black boxes recovered from the plane crash have been sent to Singapore for analysis to identify the cause of the crash.

Both the flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder will be examined by experts at Singapore's Transportation Safety Investigation Bureau.

A version of this article appears in the print on February 2, 2023, of The Himalayan Times.