KATHMANDU, AUGUST 7
After taking charge as the Director General of the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) on February 3, 2022, Pradeep Adhikari has vowed to work for aviation safety in the country. But, the facts are quite different and the state of aviation safety continues to be mired in a deep morass. Adhikari's tenure has been embroiled with a record number of air crashes. After assuming office, Adhikari witnessed at least three fatal plane crashes and four chopper crashes. At least 125 persons died in the air crashes in the last two and half years.
CAAN record shows that Tara Air flight 197, a DHC-6 Twin Otter 300, impacted a mountainside at 14,500 feet while on a domestic flight from Pokhara to Jomsom, killing all 22 occupants onboard on May 29, 2022.
On 15 January 2023, at least 68 passengers and 4 crew members died after an ATR 72 operated by Yeti Airlines crashed while landing at Pokhara. One person was killed and four were injured when a Simrik Air 9N-AZZ helicopter crashed in Bhotkhola-4 of Sankhuwasabha district on May 5, 2023.
All six people aboard died in the Manang Air chopper that crashed at Lamjura of Likhupike Rural Municipality in Solukhumbu district on July 11, 2023. A helicopter of Manang Air flying towards Solukhumbhu crashed in Lobuche killing a senior captain on October 14, 2023.
Today's Dynasty Air chopper crash has surfaced just weeks after the Saurya Airlines plane crash at Tribhuvan International Airport on July 24, which claimed the lives of 18 people on board, with the captain being the sole survivor.
DG Adhikari, as per the air operators, imposed numerous unscientific measures, just to put pressure on pilots and co-pilots. For instance, CAAN has reduced pilot's duty time restricting a pilot to fly only eight hours and make eight landings a day.
It seems that CAAN, the monopoly aerodrome and air traffic control services provider for Nepal, is in no mood to mend its unsafe ways; as a recent spate of air accidents show no signs of abating. "First and foremost, there is an urgent need to launch an investigation against Adhikari for his repeated failure to ensure air safety in the country, despite being the head of the CAAN - the air safety regulator apart from the aerodrome and air traffic services provider," an aviation expert demanded.
According to a senior pilot, carrying out two duties- of a regulator as well as a service provider- by CAAN should be considered main reasons behind the EU blacklisting Nepali aircraft flying into its territory since 2013. "The split of these two CAAN duties is the need of the hour to bring reforms in the country's aviation sector," he said.
