Shangri-La Air
| Shangri-La Air | |
|---|---|
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| IATA code : | (without) |
| ICAO code : | (unknown) |
| Call sign : | (unknown) |
| Founding: | 1999 |
| Operation stopped: | 2008 |
| Seat: | Kathmandu |
| Home airport : | Kathmandu Airport |
| Management: | Yam Sing |
| Number of employees: | 250 (2001) |
| Fleet size: | 1 |
| Aims: | national |
| Shangri-La Air ceased operations in 2008. The information in italics refer to the last status before the end of operation. | |
Shangri-La Air was a Nepal- based airline based in Kathmandu that ceased operations in 2008. The company worked with Necon Air from 2001 , which was active until 2003.
history
Shangri-La Air was founded in 1999 and took over its first aircraft with a DHC-6-300 Twin Otter in October of the same year . The company name is derived from the novel Lost Horizon by James Hilton : Shangri-La , a fictional place in the Himalayas , is a synonym for paradise .
In addition to charter flights, the company offered regular scheduled flights within Nepal between Pokhara , Jomsom , Lukla , Phaplu , Bhairahawa , Bharatpur , Rumjatar and Simara . Charter flights could be booked for both passengers and cargo . In addition, the company advertised its so-called Ultimate Everest Experience , a regular sightseeing flight for tourists at an altitude of 7,620 meters near the summit of Mount Everest .
As part of an operational cooperation, Shangri-La Air worked with Necon Air from October 2001 . At that time, Shangri-La Air had 250 employees and a fleet of two Beechcraft 1900Cs and three DHC-6 Twin Otters. The two Beechcraft 1900C used Necon Air from then on.
In the spring of 2002 the Shangri-La Air fleet consisted of three DHC-6-300 Twin Otters. After the loss of a DHC-6 in August 2002 (see incidents), the company initially continued operations with the two remaining aircraft. As of spring 2007, the fleet consisted of just one DHC-6-300, which was used until operations ceased in 2008.
Incidents
On August 22, 2002, a DHC-6-300 Twin Otter ( registration number : 9N-AFR ) of the Shangri-La Air crashed into a mountain while approaching Pokhara Airport . All 18 occupants were killed in the crash; including one British, one US and 13 German nationals as well as the three Nepalese crew members. The flight was operated as a tourist charter flight. The aircraft took off from Jomsom for the 25-minute flight to Pokhara at 09:41 local time. At around 10:00 a.m. local time, air traffic control lost contact with the aircraft.
The route between Jomsom and Pokhara leads between the 8000 meter high Annapurna and Dhaulagiri through a 6000 meter deep gorge and is considered difficult by pilots even in good weather conditions. The accident happened during the monsoon season . The mountain was completely covered by clouds that day. Heavy rain, uninterrupted for three days, combined with stormy gusts of wind, made the approach to Pokhara airport even more difficult. A board member of Shangri-La Air stated that the 20-year-old Twin Otter was in good technical condition. The machine commissioned by LIAT in 1982 was sold to Trans-Pacific Airlines in 1998 and taken over by Shangri-La Air in 1999. A flight recorder was not on board as this was not required under Nepalese law. According to official information, Shangri-La Air did not have a bad safety record up to this point.
The search and rescue work turned out to be difficult due to the persistent rain. Army helicopters and special units of the armed forces of Nepal were used . It was not until the late afternoon of August 23 that the wreck was found near the village of Dopahar, five kilometers southeast of Pokhara. An employee from the German embassy in Kathmandu and the British consul traveled to the scene of the accident to participate in the rescue work . The heavily charred corpses, found scattered in a dense forest area, were transferred to Kathmandu in a transport plane belonging to the Nepalese Air Force. Due to the predominantly German victims, the Federal Bureau of Aircraft Accident Investigation sent a team of experts to Nepal to determine the cause of the crash.
The German crash victims were between 35 and 58 years old and came from Bavaria, Baden-Württemberg, Berlin and North Rhine-Westphalia. They were on their way home from a trek through Mustang and were due to return to Germany that day. The then incumbent German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer expressed his condolences to the family members.
See also
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Homepage Shangri-La Air In: web.archive.com, accessed on November 8, 2018
- ^ Homepage Shangri-La Air In: web.archive.com, accessed on November 8, 2018
- ↑ Surendra Uprety: Operational Merge. Need of the Hour. Nepalnews, October 1, 2001 In: web.archive.com, accessed November 8, 2018
- ↑ JP airlines-fleets international, Edition 2002/03
- ↑ JP airlines-fleets international, editions 2003/04, 2004/05, 2005/06 and 2006/07
- ↑ JP airlines-fleets international, editions 2007/08, 2008/09 and 2009/10
- ↑ Nepal plane crash kills 18, The Guardian, August 22, 2002 In: theguardian.com, accessed November 9, 2018
- ↑ Aviation Safety Network In: aviation-safety.net, accessed on November 9, 2018
- ↑ a b c AP, dpa: Plane crash in Nepal. 13 Germans among the victims. Rhein-Zeitung, August 22, 2002. In: rz-online.de, accessed on November 9, 2018
- ^ Rahul Bedi, Richard Savill: 15 tourists killed as plane crashes into mountain. The Telegraph, 23 August 2002 In: telegraph.co.uk, accessed 9 November 2018
- ↑ Registration Details V2-LCK (LIAT) DHC-6-300 In: planelogger.com, accessed on November 9, 2018
- ↑ 13 Germans die in plane crash in Nepal, Schwäbische Zeitung, August 22, 2002 In: schwaebische.de, accessed on November 9, 2018
- ↑ a b Nepal tourist plane crash kills 18, CNN, August 22, 2002 In: edition.cnn.com/, accessed November 9, 2018
- ↑ Airplane crash in Nepal - 18 people die, Mountain News, August 22, 2002 In: bergleben.de, accessed on November 9, 2018