The plane was set to fly from Tribhuvan International Airport in Kathmandu to Pokhara on a ferry flight, and was carrying two flight crew members and 17 passengers.[3] Saurya Airlines said that maintenance on the aircraft was scheduled for 25 July.[6] The aircraft was on the ground at Kathmandu for the 34 days before the accident.[7]
Passengers and crew
The plane was carrying two crew and according to some sources, 16 technicians employed to conduct routine maintenance on the aircraft.[3] One passenger on the flight was a child. [7]
The captain of the flight, 35-year-old Manish Shakya, had an airline transport pilot licence and had 6,186 flight hours in total, 4,992 of which on the CRJ-200. The first officer, 26-year-old Sushant Katuwal, had a commercial pilot licence and he had 1,824 flight hours in total, 1,602 of which on the CRJ-200. A third crew member was serving as an engineer, Yemeni Aref Reda.[7][3][8][9]
Nationality
Passengers
Crew
Total
Nepali
16
3
18
Yemeni
0
1
1
Total
16
3
19
Accident
The accident occurred on 24 July 2024 around 11:15 NPT shortly after the aircraft took off.[6] The plane lifted only slightly above the runway before it rolled onto its side and crashed. Footage and eyewitness accounts indicated that the plane took off from the runway's southern end, made a sharp bank and fell, its wing tip striking the ground first. The plane caught fire on impact and skidded into a gorge east of the runway between an aircraft hangar and a radar station.[10] Footage of the incident showed firefighters putting out the blaze while attempting to rescue survivors.[3] According to the civil aviation minister, Badri Pandey, the cockpit was severed from the main fuselage by a freight container just before the main body impacted the ground. The cockpit became embedded in the container while the rest of the aircraft was carried further down the gorge.[11]
Out of the 19 people on board, 18 people were killed in the crash.[12][8][9] The captain was the only survivor and was taken to Kathmandu Medical College Hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.[6][13][14] The first officer was identified as Sushant Katuwal.[9][15]
There was low visibility in Kathmandu at the time of the accident.[14] One airport official reported that "cracking noises" seemed to come from the plane prior to crashing.[6]
Aftermath
Tribhuvan International Airport was temporarily shut down following the disaster,[3] and Saurya Airlines suspended all flights following the accident.[16] Three passengers survived the accident but died later in a hospital.[17] The bodies of the victims were taken to the Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital in Kathmandu for autopsies.[14] The captain was rescued "within five minutes of the crash," and received head and facial injuries, and fractured bones in his back.[11]
Investigation
The head of Tribhuvan International Airport said that initial investigations showed that the aircraft turned towards the wrong direction shortly after takeoff.[6]
On 5 September, the AAIC released the preliminary report on the crash. Based on data from the flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder, the aircraft rotated excessively during takeoff at 5:25:55 UTC, briefly pitching up at a rate of 8.6° per second.[a] The aircraft reached a maximum height of just 100 ft (30 m) above ground level at 5:26:03 UTC seven seconds before the right wingtip impacted the ground. The stick shaker activated multiple times within an eight second timespan between 5:25:58 and 5:26:04 UTC.[7]
The preliminary report also highlighted oversights at the airline that were deemed critical. The report revealed how Saurya Airlines was not complying with the proper producers for loading aircraft, including properly securing loads and weighing loads. Additionally, it was also shown that the airline did not properly obtain permissions for flying the accident flight.[7]