Co-pilot of fatal Nepal plane crash eerily lost her pilot husband in 2006 air crash – National | 24CA News

In 2010, Anju Khatiwada joined Nepal‘s Yeti Airlines, following within the footsteps of her husband, a pilot who had died in a crash 4 years earlier when a small passenger airplane he was flying went down minutes earlier than touchdown.

On Sunday, Khatiwada, 44, was the co-pilot on a Yeti Airlines flight from Kathmandu that crashed because it approached town of Pokhara, killing at the very least 69 folks. It is the Himalayan nation’s deadliest airplane accident in three a long time.

No survivors have been discovered thus far among the many 72 folks on board.

“Her husband, Dipak Pokhrel, died in 2006 in a crash of a Twin Otter plane of Yeti Airlines in Jumla,” airline spokesman Sudarshan Bartaula advised Reuters, referring to Khatiwada. “She got her pilot training with the money she got from the insurance after her husband’s death.”

A pilot with greater than 6,400 hours of flying time, Khatiwada had beforehand flown the favored vacationer route from the capital, Kathmandu, to the nation’s second-largest metropolis, Pokhara, Bartaula mentioned. Pokhara is commonly visited by vacationers because it’s the gateway to the Annapurna Circuit mountaineering path.

The physique of Kamal Okay.C., the captain of the flight, who had greater than 21,900 hours of flight time, has been recovered and recognized.

Kathiwada’s stays haven’t been recognized however she is feared lifeless, Bartaula mentioned.

“On Sunday, she was flying the plane with an instructor pilot, which is the standard procedure of the airline,” mentioned an Yeti Airlines official, who knew Khatiwada personally.

“She was always ready to take up any duty and had flown to Pokhara earlier,” mentioned the official, who requested to not be named as a result of he isn’t approved to talk to media.

Reuters was unable to right away attain any of her members of the family.

It’s nonetheless not clear what brought about the crash, which befell lower than a minute’s flight from the airport on a light day with little wind.

2:12
Dozens killed in Nepal’s deadliest airplane crash in a long time

A dramatic video shot on a smartphone from the bottom reveals the final moments earlier than the airplane crashed in a gorge about 1.6 kilometres from the newly opened Pokhara International Airport. The plane’s nostril is noticeably excessive earlier than the left wing all of the sudden drops and the airplane falls out of sight of the video, indicating a possible stall, mentioned Amit Singh, an skilled pilot and founding father of India’s Safety Matters Foundation.

“If you see the trajectory of the aircraft, the aircraft’s nose goes up, and the nose up would be associated with a reduction in speed,” he mentioned. “When they have stalls, typically one wing goes down and wings are basically generating the lift. So as the air flow reduces, the lift generated is not enough to sustain the aircraft in flight and the wing drops and the aircraft nosedives.”

Yeti Airlines is presently investigating the reason for the crash.

Nearly 350 folks have died since 2000 in airplane or helicopter crashes in Nepal — residence to eight of the world’s 14 highest mountains, together with Mount Everest — the place sudden climate adjustments could make for hazardous circumstances.

— With recordsdata from The Associated Press