How a Crash-Landed Turkish Airlines Plane Cut Nepal’s Ties to the Skies for Days · Global Voices
An Indian Airforce Aircraft brought the aircraft removal kit on Thursday to remove the Turkish Airlines Airbus A330 from the airport runway. Image by <PERSON>. Copyright Demotix (5/3/2015)
A Turkish Airlines Airbus 330 that skidded off the runway on the morning of March 4 at Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA) in Kathmandu, created waves of confusion at Nepal’s only international air hub, effectively limiting citizens of the landlocked country to overland travel before a ban on flights was lifted today.
The TK 726 flight that took off from Istanbul was due to land at the TIA at 6:55 AM local time. However, the pilot failed to land the plane in spite of trying twice and at the third attempt the craft missed the runway and skidded across a grassy patch.
By sheer luck, none of the 224 passengers died in the botched landing attempt.
Journalist <PERSON> tweeted:
@TurkishAirlines 726 suffered nose-wheel collapse. 182
Tail is up in the air. @flightradar24 @mikaness Kathmandu now open only for helicopters.
— <PERSON> (@kundadixit) March 4, 2015
यसरि सुतेको छ टर्किस एअरलाइन्स TIA रनवेमा l pic.twitter.com/zF83Lu60Ai
— <PERSON> (@NplJoker) March 4, 2015
This is how the Turkish Airlines is sleeping on the TIA runway.
<PERSON>, another journalist, tweeted:
Passengers evacuated through emergency doors of @TurkishAirlines aircraft that overshot runway at TIA @annapurnapost pic.twitter.com/lKvzjrSJMP
— Kosh R Koirala (@KoshRKoirala) March 4, 2015
As quoted by popular Nepali news portal Onlinekhabar, a passenger on board, <PERSON>, blamed the landing gears not working as the main cause of the accident.
A fellow passenger <PERSON> deemed poor visibility the main evil.
<PERSON>, a blogger and activist, tweeted:
टर्कीस एअरलाइन्स दुर्घटना किन? पाङ्ग्रा नखुलेर? भिजिबिलिटि नभयर? पाइलटले आफै रनवेबाहिर हालेको कि चिप्लेको कि? कुनै समाचारमा स्पष्ट छैन ।
— <PERSON> (@bigsharma) March 4, 2015
Why Turkish Airlines met with an accident? Due to landing gears not working? Due to poor visibility? Did the pilot land away from the runway or did it skid? No news is clear.
As the plane could not be lifted off from the runway on time, the authorities closed the airport and no international flights took off or landed at the TIA for over three days. Thousands of passengers were left sulking at the airport.
Journalist <PERSON> tweeted:
All flights cancelled from #TIA after the #TK726 crash. Airport is a sea of confused and angry passengers.
— <PERSON> (@mikaness) March 4, 2015
The government sought the help of Indian Air Force’s Hercules aircraft to remove the plane from the crash-landed site. 182