KATHMANDU, JULY 4
Following the fatal crash of the Tara Air Twin-Otter aircraft enroute to Jomsom on May 29, the Ministry of Culture, Tourism, and Civil Aviation has failed to publish Preliminary Investigation Report within 30 days of the disaster.
MoCTCA, the designated aviation authority responsible for the implementation of provisions on air crash investigation as designated by the International Civil Aviation Organisation, has constituted a commission led by former director general of the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal.
"Despite being headed by a former director general of the CAAN, the accident investigation commission has failed Nepal in honouring its commitment to the ICAO as it couldn't publish the ICAO-mandated preliminary report," a senior pilot with Nepal Airlines said.
In fact, the MoCTCA had issued the preliminary investigation report in the aftermath of the US-Bangla UBG211 air disaster in 2018, and why it chose not to do so in the recent case points to lack of consistency and diligence at the apex policy-making body on aviation matters.
Buddhi Sagar Lamichhane, member secretary of the commission, said it would only publish the final report, which may take more months to complete. "It's a domestic air crash.
It is not necessary to publish any preliminary report," Lamichhane, a joint secretary at MoCTA, claimed, adding that the commissions had, however, published preliminary reports in the time of US-Bangla crash or Turkish Air incident at Tribhuvan International Airport as they were international airlines.
When it comes to accident investigation, Annex 13 of ICAO doesn't have any distinct rules for domestic and international air carriers. "While eagerly awaiting the final report card on its safety oversight capabilities from the global aviation body, reneging on its commitments is not a good idea," a former CAAN director general said on the condition of anonymity.
With MoCTCA's aviation officials having blissfully chosen to ignore the primary task of accident investigation and prevention, Nepal is all but resigned to its fate of faring poorly in the audit area of accident investigation, thanks to MoCTCA officials' continued obsession with operating a parallel regulatory body as evident by actions, such as issuance and renewal of licences of airlines, as well as conducting audits, a senior executive of a private airlines said.
The fact that there were no post-crash fires in the Jomsom crash and the bodies of many of the occupants had remained remarkably intact during recovery indicates that some might have survived the crash but later succumbed to the cold weather and reduced oxygen levels at the crash site due to inordinate delay in rescue attempts.
"The anticipated preliminary report could have released sensible recommendations, as the crash certainly has remarkable similarities with the past Tara Air crash of 2016 involving yet another brand-new Twin-Otter," the airlines executive remarked.
According to him, the case of misplaced priorities at the MoCTCA continues to plague Nepal's aviation despite the change of minister."
With every sitting minister's penchant for optics continuing to prevail over matters of substance, as is evident from the recent publicity-driven spat involving former minister Prem Ale and airline operators on the issue of night halt of fleet at designated bases as well as inauguration of the rehabilitated "boutique" water fountain at TIA, things are beginning to appear ominous on issues fundamental to safety that continue to be relegated to the back seat."
A version of this article appears in the print on July 5, 2022, of The Himalayan Times.
