Weight, speed of Nepal plane in July crash did not match guidelines, probe finds

KATHMANDU (Reuters) -The small passenger plane involved in a crash that killed 18 people in Nepal in July was carrying a load and travelling at a speed that did not match guidelines at the time of the accident, a government-led investigation team said in a preliminary report on Friday.

The aircraft owned by Nepal's Saurya Airlines crashed shortly after taking off from the capital Kathmandu on July 24, killing all 17 passengers and the co-pilot, with only the captain surviving.

The report said the airline had not complied with the "load weighing, loading and securing of load requirements" and that the plane speed given in the "operation flight plan of the event flight, as well as recorded in the FDR, were inconsistent with the Quick Reference Handbook".

"We found problems with the plane's speed and the load it was carrying. Also, proper, secure latching of load was absent," Ratish Chandra Lal Suman, chairman of the probe team, told Reuters by phone.

The panel said that guidelines on baggage and cargo weighing, its distribution and latching should all be adhered to.

The 50-seater CRJ-200 plane carrying two crew members and 17 technicians was heading for regular maintenance to Nepal’s new Pokhara airport, which has aircraft maintenance hangars that are unavailable in adequate numbers at Kathmandu airport.

Those on board were Nepali citizens except for one engineer from Yemen.

Nearly 360 people have died in plane or helicopter crashes in the country since 2000.

Nepal has been criticised for its poor air safety record, where many airlines fly to small airports in remote hills and near mountains shrouded in cloud. Nepal is home to eight of the world's 14 tallest mountain peaks.

The country's main airport is ringed by mountains, affecting wind direction and intensity and making takeoff and landing a challenge for pilots.

(Reporting by Kathmandu newsroom, writing by Tanvi Mehta and Shilpa Jamkhandikar ; Editing by YP Rajesh and Hugh Lawson)