So these are plane crashes from around the world, but it's only for the countries that had a true crime case, if you don't see a plane crash in here, check my True crime from around the world book.
Warning, this book contains plane crashes and the a...
This plane crash takes us to the Asian country of Nepal, which is located next to the following countries: India, China, Bhutan and Bangladesh.
WARNINGS OF A PLANE CRASH
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Pictured above is the accident aircraft, photographed in April 1992.
Thai Airways International Flight 311 (TG311/THA311) was a flight from Bangkok, Thailand's Don Mueang International Airport (IATA: DMK, ICAO: VTBD) to Kathmandu, Nepal's Tribhuvan International Airport (IATA: KTM, ICAO: VNKT). On July 31st, 1992, at 07:00:26am UTC (12:45:26pm NST; 14:00:26pm ICT), the Airbus A310-304 operating the route crashed into the side of a mountain 37 kilometres (23 mi; 20 nmi) north of Kathmandu, killing all 113 passengers and crew members on board. This was both the first hull loss and the first fatal accident involving the Airbus A310.
The aircraft involved was an Airbus A310-304, manufactured by Airbus Industrie in 1987 and registered as HS-TID (Hotel Sierra- Tango India Delta) with serial number 438. It was powered by two General Electric CF6-80C2A2 turbofan engines.
At the time of the accident, the aircraft had been in commercial operations for five years. It was piloted by Captain Preeda Suttimai (41), who had logged 13,200 flight hours including 4,400 on A310 and 1,700 hours as Pilot In Command. The First Officer was Phunthat Boonyayej (52), who had logged 14,600 flight hours including 4,200 on the A310. The cabin crew consisted of 12 flight attendants, looking after 99 passengers.
Flight 311 departed Bangkok at 10:30am local time (03:30am UTC). It was scheduled to arrive in Kathmandu at 12:55pm Nepal Standard Time (07:10am UTC). After crossing into Nepalese airspace, the pilots contacted air traffic control (ATC) and were cleared for an instrument approach from the south called the "Sierra VOR circling approach" for Runway 20. Nepalese ATC at the time was not equipped with radar. The captain was evidently uncomfortable with this approach, as he did not want to fly so near to the higher northern mountain range and turn around in poor visibility.
Shortly after reporting the Sierra fix 10 kilometres (6.2 mi; 5.4 nmi) south of the Kathmandu VOR, the aircraft called ATC asking for a diversion to Calcutta, India, because of a "technical problem" (while attempting to extend the flaps, they had become stuck, making the steep descent into Kathmandu unsafe). Before ATC could reply, the flight rescinded their previous transmission; they retracted and re-extended the flaps properly. The flight was then cleared for a straight-in Sierra approach to Runway 02 and told to report leaving 9,500 ft (2,896 m). The captain asked numerous times for the winds and visibility at the airport, but ATC merely told him that Runway 02 was available.
The captain asked four times for permission to turn left, but after receiving no firm reply to his requests, he announced that he was turning right and climbed the aircraft to flight level 200, intending to turn back to point Romeo and re-attempt the straight-in approach. The controller handling Flight 311 assumed from the flight's transmissions that the aircraft had called off the approach and was turning to the south, so he cleared the aircraft to 11,500 ft (3,505 m), an altitude that would have been safe in the area south of the airport. The flight descended back to 11,500 ft, unintentionally went through a nearly 360° turn (rather than a 180-degree one to return to southern point Romeo), and passed over the airport northbound.
