Lamidanda - Kathmandou

On December 15, 2010 at 03:30 PM, Lamidanda - Kathmandou experienced a crash involving De Havilland DHC-6 Twin Otter, operated by Tara Air, with the event recorded near Okhaldhunga Sagarmatha.

The flight was categorized as scheduled revenue flight and the reported phase was flight at a mountains crash site.

22 people were known to be on board, 22 fatalities were recorded, 0 survivors were identified or estimated. This corresponds to an estimated fatality rate of 100.0%.

Crew on board: 3, crew fatalities: 3, passengers on board: 19, passenger fatalities: 19, other fatalities: 0.

The listed crash cause is human factor. The twin engine aircraft departed Lamidanda Airport at 1508LT on a flight to Kathmandu. Shortly after departure, the crew was cleared to climb to 10,500 feet but ATC ask them to maintain 8,500 feet due to traffic. The captain disagreed with this ATC instruction and continued to climb. The copilot asked the captain to accept the ATC proposal so finally, the captain cleared the copilot (who was the pilot in command) to descend to 8,500 feet despite the fact it was risky due to the mountainous terrain. Few minutes later, the aircraft entered clouds when the right wing impacted ground. The aircraft crashed in a rocky area located on the Palunge Hill, near Okhaldhunga. The wreckage was found the following morning. The aircraft was destroyed by impact forces and all 22 occupants were killed. IMC conditions prevailed at the time of the accident due to low visibility (cloudy conditions).

Aircraft reference details include registration 9N-AFX, MSN 806, year of manufacture 1984.

Geospatial coordinates for this crash are approximately 27.3192°, 86.4981°.