ASN Aircraft accident Airbus A300B4-203 AP-BCP Kathmandu-Tribhuvan Airport (KTM)
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Status:Accident investigation report completed and information captured
Date:Monday 28 September 1992
Time:14:30
Type:Silhouette image of generic A30B model; specific model in this crash may look slightly different
Airbus A300B4-203
Operator:Pakistan International Airlines - PIA
Registration: AP-BCP
MSN: 025
First flight: 1976-03-23 (16 years 6 months)
Total airframe hrs:39045
Cycles:19172
Engines: 2 General Electric CF6-50C2
Crew:Fatalities: 19 / Occupants: 19
Passengers:Fatalities: 148 / Occupants: 148
Total:Fatalities: 167 / Occupants: 167
Aircraft damage: Destroyed
Aircraft fate: Written off (damaged beyond repair)
Location:18 km (11.3 mls) S of Kathmandu-Tribhuvan Airport (KTM) (   Nepal)
Crash site elevation: 2225 m (7300 feet) amsl
Phase: Approach (APR)
Nature:International Scheduled Passenger
Departure airport:Karachi International Airport (KHI/OPKC), Pakistan
Destination airport:Kathmandu-Tribhuvan Airport (KTM/VNKT), Nepal
Flightnumber:PK268
Narrative:
PIA Flight 268 departed Karachi, Pakistan at 11:13 for a scheduled passenger flight to Kathmandu, Nepal. The en route portion of the flight was uneventful and the aircraft was cleared for a Sierra approach to Kathmandu's runway 02. The flight was instructed to maintain 11500 feet and report at 16 DME (16 miles from the VOR/DME beacon, which is located 0,6 nm short of the runway). The Kathmandu approach is very difficult, since the airport is located in an oval-shaped valley surrounded by mountains as high as 9665 feet. Runway elevation is 4313 feet amsl. The next approach fixes for PK268 were at 13 DME (at 10500 feet), 10 DME (at 9500 feet) and 8 DME (at 8200 feet). A few seconds after reporting 10 DME, the aircraft descended through 8200 feet, which was the altitude for 8 DME. The Airbus impacted a steep cloud-covered hillside at approx. 7300 feet amsl at 9,16 DME.

Probable Cause:

Cause:
"The balance of evidence suggests that the primary cause of the accident was that one or both pilots consistently failed to follow the approach procedure and inadvertently adopted a profile which, at each DME fix, was one altitude step ahead and below the correct procedure. Why and how that happened could not be determined with certainty because there was no record of the crew's conversation on the flight deck.
Contributory causal factors were thought to be the inevitable complexity of the approach and the associated approach chart."

Classification:

Controlled Flight Into Terrain (CFIT) - Mountain

Sources:
» ICAO Circular 296-AN/170 (p.267-326)
» ICAO Adrep Summary 2/94 (#1)


Follow-up / safety actions

Nepal issued 21 Safety Recommendations

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Photos

photo of Airbus-A300B4-203-AP-BCP
accident date: 28-09-1992
type: Airbus A300B4-203
registration: AP-BCP
photo of Airbus-A300B4-203-
Sierra approach profile
photo of Airbus-A300B4-203-
Approach profile
photo of Airbus-A300B4-203-AP-BCP
accident date: 28-09-1992
type: Airbus A300B4-203
registration: AP-BCP
 

Map
This map shows the airport of departure and the intended destination of the flight. The line between the airports does not display the exact flight path.
Distance from Karachi International Airport to Kathmandu-Tribhuvan Airport as the crow flies is 1827 km (1142 miles).
Accident location: Approximate; accuracy within a few kilometers.

This information is not presented as the Flight Safety Foundation or the Aviation Safety Network’s opinion as to the cause of the accident. It is preliminary and is based on the facts as they are known at this time.
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Airbus A300

  • 561 built
  • 8th loss
  • 3rd fatal accident
  • 2nd worst accident (at the time)
  • 6th worst accident (currently)
» safety profile

 Nepal
  • The worst accident
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