[Peetwo]

ICAO: Nepalese State AAI no improvement in 3 years.

According to ICAO Nepal is literally the most dangerous place to fly and since the last 2013 ICAO audit the Nepalese AAI (Annex 13) standards are not improving...

Nepal’s aviation on a wing and a prayer
ICAO says no improvement in air accident investigation in the past three years
Published: September 08, 2016 6:01 am
Rajan Pokhrel


Kathmandu, September 7
Nepal’s plan to get its aviation sector removed early from the global shame list received another setback after the United Nations aviation agency found no change in the country’s three-year-old status as far as air accident investigation is concerned.

International Civil Aviation Organisation has red-flagged country’s aviation sector in 2013, citing non-compliance of ICAO protocols in eight critical elements, including the aircraft accident investigation.

In its updated safety audit report, the status of effective implementation of ICAO protocols stands at a pathetic 20 per cent as compared to the global average of 54 per cent.

The 2013 audit also found the implementation at the same level to designate Nepal’s aviation with significant safety concerns, leading to the European Union’s blacklisting of Nepali airlines in 2014.

The latest ICAO’s finding clearly shows that the senior officials at the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation, which is solely responsible for aircraft accident investigation in Nepal, have been taking country’s civil aviation for a ride, while globe-trotting with no accompanying obligations or guilt, Ashok Chandra Pokharel, former board director at Nepal Airlines, said.

He added that at least four accidents involving commercial air transport that have occurred this year, resulting in deaths of five flight crew members and 25 passengers, were a grim reminder that serious deficiencies continue to stalk Nepali aviation.

“Besides, the repetitive nature of the accidents raises troubling questions about the recommendation made for past accidents and their state of compliance.”

He said investigations had become a farce and officials headed to foreign shores at government expenses with flight recorders for analysis.

Interestingly, Joint Secretary Suresh Acharya, who heads the aviation accident investigation wing of MoCTCA, desisted from sharing country’s expertise at the ICAO’s Fourth Meeting of the Asia Pacific Accident Investigation Group held in Tokyo earlier this week.

“The meeting discussed papers on accident investigation by Australia, Singapore and even Bangladesh –- countries that have not witnessed a fatal air crash for many years — but Nepal chose not to put up even an information paper at the conference,” a member of the delegation revealed.

“This was simply because all investigations are farcical and the reports lack substance and credibility even in Nepal,” he added.

According to him, the key takeaway from the Tokyo meeting was the independence of the investigation process. He added that to ensure total objectivity and impartiality, ICAO had stipulated that the investigation authority should not report to the same minister responsible for the regulation and/or safety oversight of civil aviation, a practice that is not being followed by Nepal.

“The ministry oversees Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal, the minister chairs the CAAN Board and yet constitutes the accident investigation commission that reports to him — a clear case of conflict of interest,” a senior ministry official admitted.

MoCTCA Secretary Prem Kumar Rai, however, claimed that the ministry was always ready to perform as per ICAO’s stipulations on accident investigation.

“CAAN must suggest to the ministry its future course of action to address this critical issue,” he added.

Now here is a 'heads up' for Chester, Murky & his minions:

"..According to him, the key takeaway from the Tokyo meeting was the independence of the investigation process. He added that to ensure total objectivity and impartiality, ICAO had stipulated that the investigation authority should not report to the same minister responsible for the regulation and/or safety oversight of civil aviation, a practice that is not being followed by Nepal..."

Such a damning indictment of the Nepalese AAI standards compared to the acceptable standards, as outlined in ICAO Annex 13, got me thinking on how bad their investigations and final reports could possibly be compared to our much internationally maligned ATSB..

So I started by visiting the Nepalese Civil Aviation AAI report page - see HERE. But then two days I came across an article reporting on a fatal accident of a P750 XL at Chilkhaya in Kalicot Nepal, unfortunately the report is yet to be released on the Ministry of Civil Aviation website (link above).

Therefore I am not sure of the veracity of the reported details but if correct it took the authorities responsible for AAI in Nepal 7 months to complete the investigation and publish the final report.

Given the ICAO assessment it could be the report itself is substandard; or not meeting the ICAO Annex 13 standards?? However from what was reported in the article the AAI commission members assigned to investigate this accident seem to have got a handle on the whole causal chain, including a finding of no records for the preservation of the engine between 2012 to 2015 and while under ownership of Australian company Tasman Aviation Enterprises of Australia...

Air Kasthamandap crash caused by engine failure: Probe report
- SANGAM PRASAIN, Kathmandu




Sep 18, 2016

The crash of an Air Kasthamandap plane at Chilkhaya in Kalikot last February was caused by engine failure, a probe report has revealed. Both pilots were killed while the nine passengers on the charter flight survived.

According to the findings, the crew tried to force land the aircraft on a barley field after losing power, and the right landing gear struck a pile of firewood, causing it to pitch forward onto its nose. The cockpit was destroyed by the impact.

Captain Dinesh Neupane died on the spot while Copilot Santosh Rana died one and a half hours later. There were nine passengers on board including an infant. The single-engine P750 XL, manufactured by Pacific Aerospace of New Zealand, was on its way to Jumla from Nepalgunj.

The investigation report submitted to Tourism Minister Jeevan Bahadur Shahi on Sunday concluded that the crash happened because the engine lost useful power due to deterioration of one of the six bearings in the engine.

“The breakdown of surface layers on the number one bearing resulted in axial movement of the compressor into gross mechanical damage,” said Ramesh Kumar Singh, a senior engineer of Goma Air and a member of the government’s fact-finding commission.

“The engine had a defect in its rolling-element bearing. The bearing assembly was improper or faulty,” he said, presenting the details of the mechanical aspect of the crashed aircraft.

The engine of the 10-seater aircraft was manufactured in 1991. Initially, it was used on a multi-engine aircraft of Fiji Airways. Air Kasthamandap had leased the engine in December 2015, according to the report.

The engine had been overhauled at Airforce Turbine Service in the US in 2012. When Air Kasthamandap leased the engine from Tasman Aviation Enterprises of Australia, it was disassembled appropriately for a single-engine plane. “However, the engine’s bearing assembly was improper,” said Singh.

“There was a foreign object or debris between the bearing and the body of the engine that was regularly building up friction, and ultimately led to the breakdown of the layers of the bearing,” he said. “There are no records about how the engine was preserved between 2012 and 2015.”

The crew had tried several times to restart the engine after it stopped abruptly when the aircraft was at a height of 11,000 feet and at a distance of 75 km north of Nepalgunj airport.

The aircraft with the registration number 9N-AJB had taken off from Nepalgunj at 12:16 pm, the third flight for the crew on that day. The aircraft had last established contact with Nepalgunj airport at 12:33 pm.

The authorities concerned were informed about the crash at 12:50 pm. However, a rescue operation was mounted a full four hours after the accident.

The report said that engine failure was not the sole reason behind the crash. “Although single-engine aircraft can glide a fair distance after losing power to execute a safe force landing, the route lacks proper landing spots,” said Hari Bahadur Khadka, member-secretary of the commission.

The crew had flown for nearly 15 km searching for a suitable landing spot after the engine shut down. “There should be a force landing spot for every three minutes of flying distance, but no such spots were designated,” said Khadka, adding that the civil aviation regulator had also not followed up on this issue.  

The report said that the accident "could also be the result of the financial health of the airline”. Khadka said, “Due to the deteriorating financial condition of the company, it was unable to conduct proper monitoring of the operation. It had not been able to retain technical manpower due to financial stress.”

Meanwhile, the investigation committee has concluded that the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal has not been able to oversee the use of different types of aircraft due to capacity constraints. This has affected efficient monitoring of the Nepali skies, it added.

Published: 18-09-2016 18:45

Here is hoping when this report is finally published we may see that the worm has turned and the quality of Nepalese AAI has indeed improved.

However the warning bells for our mob should be ringing loud and long. For it is obvious that ICAO now place significant importance on the effective functioning of a State Annex 13 defined fully independent Aviation Accident Investigator...


MTF...P2