The Bombardier Dash 8 of the Bangladeshi airline US Banga that crashed on March 12 in the Nepalese capital Kathmandu had problems finding the right runway. The plane with 67 passengers on board and 4 crew members crashed into a grassy area beyond the airport.
According to local authorities, at least 50 occupants have reportedly already died. Flight BS 211 was en route from Dhaka (Bangladesh capital) to Kathmandu and had made its final approach and when they received clearance from the control tower to land on runway 02. Suddenly the aircraft veered to the left, after which the crew requested permission to landing on runway 20. Apparently the pilots could not visualize this runway ("negative" was the answer to the control tower's question), after which runway 02 was cleared again. But the plane skidded off runway 02 and caught fire. It is not yet clear whether there were technical problems with the Bombardier before the landing was made.
The Tribhuvan airport of the Nepalese capital - not to be confused with the Himalayan airstrip of Lukla (Nepal), one of the ten most dangerous airports in the world - does not exactly have a good reputation for safety. Over the past eight years, there have been no less than 4 fatal air accidents involving smaller passenger aircraft. According to aviation experts quoted in Aerotime, this is due to poor pilot training and poor maintenance.