Nepal Plane Crash: 21 year old plane was going for repair, all passengers were airline staff… it proved to be the last journey

The plane that crashed at Tribhuvan International Airport in Kathmandu, Nepal, has a history full of accidents. It is manufactured by Bombardier, a Canadian company. It is a CRJ200 model plane. Nepal’s private airline company Saurya Airlines has three such planes. The accidents we are talking about are related to this model of plane, not Saurya Airlines.

The plane was 21 years old and was being repaired

Saurya Airlines has said that this plane was a Bombardier CRJ-200ER. Its registration number was 9N-AME and serial number was 7772. This plane was manufactured in the year 2003. It was going for repairs. All the 19 people sitting in the plane before the accident were staff of Saurya Airlines.

Also read: Nepal Plane Crash: Plane crashes during take off at Tribhuvan Airport in Nepal, bodies of 13 passengers have been recovered so far

Why was the plane going to Pokhara?

Saurya Airlines has said that its CRJ200ER aircraft was going to Pokhara so that regular repairs could be done. Technical inspection was to be done. Pokhara International Airport spokesperson Jashoda Regmi said that this aircraft was to be kept in the hangar for a month. So that after technical inspection, it could be repaired.

Jashoda said that just like we service a car or a bike, we service this plane in the same way. This plane crashed during takeoff at 11:11 am. This plane crashed on runway 20, while it had taken off from runway 2.

Where does Saurya Airlines provide services?

Since August 2017, this company is providing flight services to seven destinations in Nepal. These places are Bhadrapur, Biratnagar, Dhangadhi, Kathmandu, Nepalgunj, Pokhara and Siddharthnagar. Bombardier’s CRJ200 aircraft is a 50-seater. That means 50 people can travel in it. It looks similar to CRJ100.

However, this is an upgraded plane from the older version. Bombardier planes have a history of accidents. From 26 July 2003 to 2016, 14 major accidents have occurred. On 14 November 2004, a plane of the same model met with an accident in China. The incident took place in Inner Mongolia. 53 people were killed then. A similar accident happened in Kentucky in 2006, where 49 people were killed.

See here the list of dead released by Saurya Airlines

This aircraft has two cockpit crew. The height of the cabin is 6.1 feet. While the width is 8.3 feet. The length of this aircraft is 87.10 feet, the wingspan is 20.8 feet.

Also read: Plane crashes at Nepal’s Tribhuvan Airport

This aircraft can take off with a maximum weight of 6124 kg. A maximum of 8081 liters of fuel can be carried in an aircraft. After refueling once, it can travel a maximum range of 3056 km. Its maximum speed is 860 km/hr. It can reach a maximum height of 41 thousand feet. It requires a runway of at least 1770 meters for takeoff. A runway of 1480 meters also works for landing.