KATHMANDU, JULY 29
An aircraft of Yeti Airlines made a precautionary landing at the Pokhara Airport after an indicator light of one of its engines malfunctioned.
According to Spokesperson for Yeti Airlines Sudarshan Bartaula, ATR-72 aircraft with call sign 9N-ANG and 45 passengers onboard that was scheduled to fly from Pokhara to Kathmandu aborted the flight after the indicator light of its left engine lit up.
The plane was then returned to Pokhara and landed safely.
"Upon seeing the indicator light go on, the aircraft that had taken off at 8:54am was diverted back to Pokhara and landed safely at 9:00am," Bartaula told The Himalayan Times.
He further clarified that it was a precautionary measure taken by the pilot in line with the civil aviation protocols and could not be termed as an 'emergency' landing.
"People are making a bigger deal of it than it actually was," he said, adding that it is quite common in the aviation sector for flights to be diverted when a problem is detected.
He further stated that the passengers that were on the flight were transferred to another flight to Kathmandu.
Spokesperson for Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) Jagannath Niraula informed that an inspection had revealed that the indicator light had malfunctioned and that there actually was no problem with the engine.
"Following the necessary maintenance by the technicians of the airline company and CAAN, the aircraft flew to Kathmandu from Pokhara," he added.
Other flights on the Kathmandu-Pokhara route were, however, affected as a result of the incident.
"Some flights in Kathmandu- Pokhara sector were delayed. But none of the flights had to be cancelled since it's off season at the moment," Niraula said
A version of this article appears in the print on July 30, 2022, of The Himalayan Times.
