KATHMANDU, FEBRUARY 28
The Nepal Airlines Corporation has banned two of its pilots from flying any aircraft as they did not report a technical problem they encountered earlier.
According to Karishma Shrestha, spokesperson for the national flag carrier, the A330 series aircraft, which had arrived here from Doha on January 8, had made a hard landing at Tribhuvan International Airport. While the pilots did not report the incident, NAC management found out about it on February 9 via Flight Data Analysis Programme.
According to her, the pilots should have informed the corporation about the technical glitches by filling the mandatory occurrence report.
However, since the pilots did not do so, NAC banned them from flying on February 24.
Generally, pilots should report any technical problem they notice in the aircraft, especially during take-off and landing.
According to the corporation, captains Sunil Shrestha and Mahesh Man Dangol were flying the aircraft when the malfunction occurred.
"After the incident, we had sought more information regarding flight operation from the aircraft manufacturer, Airbus. It said that the aircraft could operate around 100 flight cycles (take-off and landing), which is around two months, before it would have to be sent for maintenance," she said. "Airbus has recommended certain tests during this period," she added.
The corporation has formed an investigation committee comprising Captain Vijay Lama, Manish Kumar Shah, and Dambar Rawat under the coordination of Senior Captain Yuvraj Kumar Bhattarai to look into the matter.
Spokesperson Shrestha said the committee had been working since February 23. She said further action would be taken on the basis of the committee's report.
A version of this article appears in the print on March 1, 2021, of The Himalayan Times.
