Is Landing at Lukla Safe?

[@aeskerritt]

@4:02s Donier showing it's grass cutting skills

[@mikebracchi]

7:36 Sadly this aircraft 9N-AKY is no longer - Crashed short of runway, suspected stall killing both pilots, one other crew member survived; there were no passengers on the flight.

[@sprlowe]

Yes, about 3 days after this film - so this may be the last filmed landings and take off of 9N-AKY. Came out of cloud/ rain, too close to the runway, too low and off the centre-line. One pilot died at the time, the other at the local hospital in Lukla a few days later, being unable to be evacuated to a bigger hospital in Kathmandu due to the persistence of bad weather. The flight attendant survived.

[@uh7385]

@Mike Bracchi: 🛩😢 9N-AKY

[@araildo3755]

It's sad!

[@zombokiler4462]

@@sprlowe do these aircraft have very good brakes or are they reversing pitch of props to stop so quickly ?

[@sprlowe]

@@zombokiler4462 they have relatively low landing speed, being designed for STOL, the runway is actually uphill on landing so that takes off a lot of speed, it's longer than it looks & the a/c can reverse feather the props. I doubt brakes are often needed. More often than not, they have to put on some power to get to the top of the slope and turn into the apron. I once saw one put wheels down a long way up the runway, and he was still carrying a lot of speed as he avoided the end wall & swung round into the apron. Overwhelmingly though, they land within a few metres of the very end of the runway giving themselves the full distance of the runway and plenty of time to slow.

[@hippielewis4768]

Last time I seen plane land in person was Khe-Sanh Vietnam 1968-was a beautiful sight-cause they were our life-line.

[@christianoaraujo7302]

These are the best civilian pilots in the world.

[@cliffwheeler7357]

Is Landing at Lukla Safe? is the title of this video. Statistically, considering it's location and the number of flights, Lukla is relatively safe. The airport opened in 1964. The first accident occurred eleven years later in 1973. On that occasion, the aircraft was damaged on landing, but the six passengers on board were unhurt. In the forty eight years since then, there have been a further ten accidents or incidents. These resulted in twenty three fatalities, of which eighteen were in one accident, the Yeti airlines Flight 103. A DHC-6 Twin Otter 9N-AFE on October 8th 2008. Between 2003 and 2019, over one million five hundred thousand passengers flew in and out of Lukla without coming to any harm. I took the Lukla flight in 2004, and OK, it's a bit of a white knuckle ride, but boy, was it exciting. So, in my opinion, after reading the statistics, Lukla is not as dangerous as some of the hysterical, over the top postings you read on some websites would have you believe. In 2008 I took a Yeti Airlines flight from Kathmandu to Juphal, a dirt airstrip in the Dolpo region of north west Nepal. That made Lukla look like Heathrow in comparison.

[@simonscycling3692]

Thanks for the statistics - they're very thorough. You might be interested to know that Juphal has now been black-topped. I hope to fly back there in the spring next year (omicron allowing). I'll let you know if it's a more comfortable landing than before. It should be! The danger for that flight would be losing an engine, anywhere after leaving the terai and short of the runway.

[@cliffwheeler7357]

@@simonscycling3692 Thanks for the news about Juphal. Good luck for next year. Covid has really disrupted world travel.

[@Peterdom393]

Un paisaje fascinante, y asombroso......Me gustaría mucho ir allá.

[@cootumrebel]

Flying in a little twin-engine putter-hopper is never safe. It's always a gamble. Two kinds of people fly in those planes: those who have crashed in them and those who have yet to do so.

[@jazzbeau507]

How do I get a job as air traffic controller here?

[@AngryHybridApe]

Its like landing on a carrier minus the cable.

[@barneydemetrio5298]

MUito bom! Espetáculo de aeroporto!

[@JuanPerez-cb7rj]

Yes, landing at Lukla is very safe.

[@phiplihigalgo4729]

Learn from them American Airlines. In a wing and a prayer.

[@julioaugustodasilvapereira3442]

Estas imagens são fabulosas. Já conhecia o filme mas nunca é demais apreciar estas aterragens. O efeito de solo , as orográficas que se podem fazer sentir, isto é de facto a prova das mãos que são necessárias para pôr o zingarelho no chão. O Twin Otter conheço a sua operação, o Let 410 não.

[@paulodasilvaandre7808]

The planes have to take off before the peral, otherwise the danger could be imminent 😳

[@araildo3755]

4:06 It was awesome!

[@GeDoBa]

4:20 auf dem Zebrastreifen aufgesetzt. Die Piloten könnten wohl auch zielgenau auf einem Flugzeugträger landen!

[@robertwolff3221]

I think the flight attendants are the bravest people.

[@zapfanzapfan]

Nice work getting different angles! 4:05 That was almost mowing the lawn, a foot lower and it would have been a crash.

[@norman7179]

How many flights per day on average?

[@sprlowe]

Perhaps 16 to 20 a day peak season, with good weather lasting into the afternoon.

[@norman7179]

Thanks for your reply. That is a lot of flights for such a small airport.

[@peterlovett5841]

@@norman7179 You might notice on some of the other videos of Lukla that they "hot load". That is, one engine is kept running while the passengers disembark and embark on the other side. It is quick and allows for a speedy turn-around which is necessary when one aircraft might be doing 3 round trips and the weather may prevent afternoon flights. The departing passengers are lined up at the terminal ready for the aircraft's arrival and as soon as it has arrived they are taken out to the aircraft and wait there while the arriving passengers disembark along with their luggage. As soon as the departing passengers are on board the other engine is started and the aircraft taxies out for departure. An advantage of hot loading is that it is quick and they don't have to rely on the aircraft battery to get the shut-down engine started. Engine starts on turbo-prop aircraft are extremely hard on the battery, especially if the engine is fixed shaft as the starter motor has to turn over the whole engine and get it up to the speed where the fuel can be turned on.

[@idrisseldjazairi3109]

Very dangerous airport

[@cliffwheeler7357]

No it's not. Statistically, considering it's location Lukla is relatively safe. Between 2003 and 2019 over one and a half million passengers, of which I was one, flew in and out of Lukla without incident. There was the 2008 accident in which eighteen people sadly died as result of sudden blanket fog affecting the region. But fog has resulted in serious accidents in many of the worlds major airports.

[@krishnadammu9472]

i like this airport

[@milangurung4272]

amazing

[@genana4541]

It needs aircraft carrier landing system!!!!

[@JustAnOrdinarySimmer]

No it doesn't. That's what the high gradient slope is for

[@jamaansalamahallugmani7101]

مطار لوكلا في النيبال خطير جدا اللقماني الحربي مكه المكرمه اللهم اجعلي بها قرارورزق حلال وبها احى وبها اموت 🌏🌐🇸🇦🕋👉

[@ferrariLaw]

👍👍👍

[@krishnadammu9472]

busy airport

[@elwynaraujo473]

Aventura nas encostas

[@wydocdoc]

Sjupukta airport dês futetd plane hevch a jituweet. Fabulousiy

[@มดแดง-ฃ3ข]

รบกวนศึกษาเรื่องนี้สำหรับดาดฟ้าเรือบรรทุกเครื่องบิน

[@severinosouza3999]

👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏

[@mbajobseekers5648]

awesome

[@kibria_rakib]

Everyone should avoid Nepal for small Airports.

[@sprlowe]

Now, that depends how you like to live your life - true adventure entails risk and Lukla is the gateway to higher adventures in the mountains.

[@cliffwheeler7357]

@ Rakib. If you are going to make glib comments like that, you should back it up with reliable statistics.

[@cliffwheeler7357]

@@sprlowe Well said sir. As well as Lukla, I have also flown to Juphal in north west Nepal. In 2008 it was a dirt airstrip, and probably still is.

[@sprlowe]

@@cliffwheeler7357 you flew to Juphal a few years before me. It was dirt too when I landed in 2012, but it has been tarmac'd since then.