Nepal to check "reckless" flying

In order to root out "reckless" flying, the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) is working towards introducing the Enforcement Manual which will allow the authorities to scrap licenses of pilots who cross the thin red line of aviation rules, The Himalayan Times reported on Wednesday.

Two "reckless" pilots who have been frequently violating aviation rules and regulations have come under the CAAN's scrutiny, according to the report.

"We are closely watching the two pilots who frequently violate aviation norms while flying," Ratish Chandra Lal Suman, chief of the CAAN's Air Safety department, was quoted by the newspaper as saying.

He, however, declined to name the concerned pilots and the airlines they work for.

Taking the increasing air accidents owing to human errors into consideration, the CAAN is debating how many warnings should a pilot be given before he is permanently grounded, he said.

The Civil Aviation Authority Act allows the CAAN authorities to ground pilots between one to three months and fine up to 25,000 Nepali rupees (357 U.S. dollars) if they are found to have violated flying regulations.

Although the CAAN has grounded pilots and sought written explanations from the concerned airlines regarding the violation of aviation rules, it has not fined a single pilot till date since the act has not clearly spelt out the process of imposing fines.

The Enforcement Manual is expected to clearly define the circumstances under which a pilot can be fined.

Looking at Nepal's history of air fatalities, almost all major aviation disasters have occurred due to "human errors," while about 70 percent of air accidents across the world take place due to human errors, Suman said.

The pilots' failure to maintain the Controlled Flight into Terrains due to bad weather is a major cause of air accidents.

However, the weather factor was not the main cause of air fatalities in the past two years. It was solely due to human error, according to Suman.

In Nepal's 62 years of aviation history, the country has witnessed a total of 65 air accidents, out of which, 35 were fatal crashes.

As per the CAAN's data, 597 lives have been lost in the air fatalities.

Source: Xinhua