Nepal air crash: Aviation expert’s theory on what caused plane to plunge from the sky killing 68

The tenuous atmosphere of a high-altitude airstrip and an optical illusion may have caused Sunday’s plane crash in Nepal that killed 68 people, with the fate of an Australian on board still unknown.

Aviation expert Professor Ron Bartsch said the Yeti Airlines ATR 72 crashed to the ground after it appeared to suffer a mid-air stall while attempting to land.

The plane was on final approach to Pokhara, on the edge of the Himalayas, 200 kilometers west of the capital Kathmandu.

The video captured their last chilling moments. just as he landed after a 25-minute flight to the city’s new airport, 822m above sea level.

It suddenly turned left and plummeted from the sky with 72 people on board, in the country’s worst air disaster in three decades.

Professor Bartsch believes the pilot may have lost control after an optical illusion made him think he was traveling faster than he actually was, causing the plane to stall.

Planes need to fly at faster speeds through thinner air at higher altitudes to stay airborne, and Nepal’s high-altitude airstrips are notoriously difficult to navigate.

“The catwalks are very, very challenging, some of the most challenging in the world,” he told Nine’s Today on Monday.

Aviation expert Professor Ron Bartsch (pictured) says the Yeti Airlines ATR 72 crashed to the ground after it appeared to experience a mid-air stall while attempting to land.

‘That terrain is terribly difficult to fly: very strong winds and high altitude. Planes don’t normally fall out of the sky, especially modern planes.

He ruled out any possibility of mechanical failure, and instead suspected that the pilot had stalled the twin-propeller plane in the difficult conditions and thin air.

“Planes require air to fly and the air is thinner at about 800 meters up there,” he said.

“But also the fact that when you’re going on the ground, it can feel like you’re going much faster on the ground than you are going through the air.

“I would suggest that the plane has stalled… that’s what caused this.”

The footage appears to show the plane flying over houses in the town in the central region of Nepal.

Airport officials confirmed that an Australian was among 15 foreign nationals aboard the domestic flight from Kathmandu, along with five Indians, four Russians, one Irish national, two South Koreans, one French national and one Argentine.

It is currently unknown if the Australian died or is one of four survivors of the horrific accident. Daily Mail Australia has contacted the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade for further details.

The harrowing video clip of the crash showed the plane taking a sharp turn before plummeting to the ground seconds later with a loud thud, followed by screams.

Local television showed thick black smoke billowing from the crash site as rescuers and crowds of people gathered around the wreckage.

A second clip appears showing the moment of the crash that was broadcast on Facebook Live by one of his passengers.

The images, which were reportedly taken by an Indian man named Sonu Jaiswal, show passengers smiling as the plane flies over houses.

The Yeti Airlines logo is seen over Mr. Jaiswal’s shoulder and a Nepalese insurance advertisement can be seen on the airline’s tray.

The clip continues, before the camera suddenly begins to shake and passengers can be heard screaming. It then turns black with a loud bang, before flames ignite the frame.

The veracity of the images has not been independently confirmed by MailOnline, although the Times of India says it spoke to Jaiswal’s cousin who confirmed the 29-year-old was on board the plane.

He reports that one of Mr. Jaiswal’s companions, all three of whom were also Indians, yelled “This is so much fun” moments before the accident.

Hundreds of onlookers flocked to the crash site, where the wreckage of the plane was engulfed in flames.

Rescue teams scrambled to get around broken sections of the aircraft at the hillside crash site amid burned ground, with flames visible in television footage.

“The plane is burning,” police officer Ajay KC said, adding that rescuers were having difficulty reaching the site in a gorge between two hills near the resort town’s airport.

Pokhara is the gateway to the Annapurna Circuit, a popular Himalayan trekking route, and its new international airport began operations a fortnight ago.

The plane made contact with the airport from Seti Gorge at 10:50 a.m. local time, the aviation authority said in a statement, “then crashed.”

“Half of the plane is on the hillside,” said Arun Tamu, a local resident, who told Reuters he arrived at the site minutes after the plane crashed. The other half has fallen into the Seti River Gorge.

Khum Bahadur Chhetri said that he watched from the roof of his house as the flight approached.

The plane, operated by the national carrier Yeti Airlines (pictured), was 15 years old, according to flight-tracking website FlightRadar24.

“I saw the plane shaking, moving from left to right, and then suddenly its nose dipped and it went into the gorge,” Chhetri told Reuters, adding that local residents took two passengers to a hospital.

There were 72 people on the ATR 72 twin-engine plane operated by Yeti in Sunday’s disaster, including two babies and four crew members, the Sudarshan Bartaula airline spokesman said.

The plane was 15 years old, according to the FlightRadar24 flight tracking website.

“We hope to recover more bodies,” said army spokesman Krishna Bhandari. The plane has been broken into pieces.

The Russian ambassador to Nepal, Alexei Novikov, confirmed the deaths of four Russians on board the crashed plane.

Rescuers gather today at the plane crash site in Pokhara

Crowds gather at the crash site of a plane carrying 72 people in Pokhara, western Nepal.

‘Unfortunately, four citizens of the Russian Federation died. We are in constant contact with the Nepalese authorities and will provide all necessary assistance to the relatives of the dead Russians,’ he said.

A South Korean embassy official said: ‘Two South Koreans are on the passenger list. We are trying to confirm if they were actually on board and their identities.

Nepalese Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal said he was “deeply saddened by the sad and tragic accident.”

Nepal’s Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia tweeted his condolences.

“The loss of life in a tragic plane crash in Nepal is extremely regrettable. My thoughts and prayers are with the families of the mourners,” the official said.

Neighbors look at the wreckage of a passenger plane in Pokhara

Chinese Ambassador to Nepal Chen Song also expressed his surprise.

‘At this difficult time, our thoughts are with the Nepali people. I would like to express my deep condolences to the victims and my deepest condolences to the bereaved families,” he wrote.

The ATR72 is a widely used twin-engine turboprop aircraft manufactured by a joint venture of Airbus and Leonardo of Italy. Yeti Airlines has a fleet of six ATR72-500 aircraft, according to its website.

Prime Minister Dahal called an emergency cabinet meeting after the plane crash, a government statement said.