Twin Otter Down at Lukla

[bluediamond]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/us_nepal_crash

[Panther_99FS]

Yikes!
From the photo, looks like the pilot landed short :frown:...

[Dain Arns]

Oh dear, very sad news. My thoughts and prayers for the crew and passengers.

[lifejogger]

Very tragic the families of those killed will be devastated. Perhaps they lost power and couldn't make the runway.

[JO_Wingnut]

I read one report that the plane clipped the fence at the end of the runway and crashed. Only the pilot survived. 8 people died.

[Hals und Bein Bruch]

isn't the air thinner up there? surely that affects sink rate,etc. do sims model this? Nepal is waay up there...

[Jaxon]

Whatever it was. it is not only tragic.
This airport is one of the hardest you could try to land.
A short runway, limited to a valley at one side, and a rock on the other side. Rocks left and right as well, so once you approach, there is only one chance: land somehow.

With 19 on board and only the pilot survive, we have 18 dead there, 12 are Germans. It is the second time after 2002, when also a dozen German tourists died in a plane crash somewhere in Nepal.

The pilot is very experienced with this plane and that runway, the media says.

Isn`t it scary? In all recent crashs I remember, the pilot was very experienced as well.

---
UPDATE: I just heard, two of the victims were a fresh married couple on honeymoon, she a doc and he an engineer.
Friends told, they dreamt of that trip for quite some time.
So sad.