Decision to ban single-engine plane taken two years ago

The government banned single-engine aircraft from carrying passengers immediately after one of Air Kasthamandap crash-landed at Chilkhaya in Kalikot district on Friday but it has been revealed that the decision was taken by the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) two years ago. Those in the know say the ban was not enforced under political pressure.

Single-engine planes are clearly instructed to only make cargo flights and carry passengers only in chartered flights while issuing Air Operators Certificate (AOC). The accident on Friday has revealed how airlines have been clandestinely operating regular passenger flights with single-engine planes. Single-engine planes were long barred from carrying passengers in Nepal, according to CAAN. They later got permission to operate chartered flights as air taxis for the benefit of people in remote areas. All single-engine planes of Nepal Airlines Corporation (NAC), Tar Air and Necon Air were wiped out by crashes.

CAAN had been turning a blind eye to these planes carrying passengers instead of returning back empty after making cargo flights. But the airlines were recently focusing more on passengers with fall in cargo transportation. “These airlines may not be publishing flight schedule but they are busier than those that operate regular flights,” a CAAN official said.

The official claimed CAAN repeatedly tried to stop even chartered flights after the blacklisting of Nepali sky by the European Union (EU) but could not do so. Locals and even political leaders from these remote places would oppose when CAAN tried to act tough on single-engine planes. Airlines have been claiming that single-engine planes have been used in carrying passengers along with cargo as people in remote areas are deprived of air service. The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) had also regularly been raising questions about single-engine planes carrying passengers considering the difficult geography of Nepal.

There are still five more single-engine planes in Nepal. Kasthamandap has one remaining while Goma and Makalu have two each. “There is only one pilot in single-engine planes all around the world. But we have kept the provision requiring even a co-pilot here. Nepal is the toughest on single-engine planes,” Deputy Director General at CAAN Rajan Raj Pokharel argued. CAAN has repeatedly raised questions about carrying of passengers by single-engine planes but has always been set back by professional and political lobbying.

A Necon Air Cessna Caravan, single-engine aircraft, had had an accident on January 17, 1999 while trying to take off from Jumla Airport. Only its co-pilot was killed in the accident. Questions about single-engine planes were raised in Nepal after that accident. Pokharel claimed CAAN has been regulating both single-engine and double-engine planes with the same regulations considering the difficult geography of Nepal.

CAAN had been acting tough on everything, he insisted, after the EU blacklisting. CAAN had been taking action against single-engine planes and even revoking airlines which did not complete paperwork in the past two years.

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