The BAPTISM OF Tenzing-Hilary Airport (aka Lukla Airport)

Renamed in 2008 after the famous pair of climbers, this tiny airport is the point of entry to Lukla town at an altitude of 2800m.
This is where most climbers to the Everest trek would start their journey.
Tenzing-Hilary Airport was reported by The History Channel as the most dangerous airport in the world for the following reasons:
  • It has a very short runway of only 460m.
  • The runway is angled at 12 degree inclination for a landing plane,
  • ...at the end of which is nothing but a vertical face of a hill side, thus leaving the pilot with no possibility of a second chance at landing should the first try go awry.
  • Because of its location right in a valley, strong wind and poor visibility are very common and often are hindrance to a successful landing or take off.


Because of the smallness of the runway, only Twin Otter planes and Dornier 228 can be employed.
Despite the relatively high volume of flights to and fro The Tenzing-Hilary Airport, the incidence rate remained surprisinly low.
Here are some recent accident reports from Wikipedia:


15 October 1973
On landing at the airport, a Royal Nepal Airlines DHC-6 Twin Otter 300, registration 9N-ABG, was damaged beyond repair. The three crew and three passengers were unhurt.
9 June 1991
Flying from Kathmandu, a Royal Nepal Airlines DHC-6 Twin Otter 300, registration 9N-ABA, crashed at the airport while attempting to land following an unstabilized approach in bad weather. All three crew and fourteen passengers were killed.
26 September 1992
A Royal Air Nepal Harbin Yunshuji Y-12-11 registered 9N-ACI faltered during take-off and was damaged beyond repair. All on board (twelve passengers and two crew) survived.
25 May 2004
While on approach to the airport, a Yeti Airlines DHC-6 Twin Otter Series 300 (registration 9N-AFD) flying from Kathmandu crashed into Lamjura Hill in heavy cloud. No passengers were on board, but all three crew members were killed. The Nepalese accident investigation committee concluded that the captain provided inaccurate information as regards his position to the Area Control Centre.
1 October 2004
On landing at the airport, a Sita Air Dornier Do 228 suffered a collapse of its nose gear and slid along the runway, blocking it once it had come to rest. The airport was closed for two days.
30 June 2005
A Gorkha Airlines Dornier Do 228 skidded off the runway while attempting to land. The nine passengers and three crew suffered minor injuries. The aircraft was reportedly withdrawn from use and written off after the accident.
8 October 2008
Yeti Airlines Flight 103, a DHC-6 Twin Otter, crashed on final approach and caught fire, killing eighteen passengers and crew. The aircraft's captain was the only survivor.
25 August 2010
Agni Air Flight 101 crashed at Shikharpur while returning to Kathmandu after bad weather had prevented it from reaching Lukla. All eleven passengers and three crew perished.
12 October 2010
A Sita Air Dornier Do 228 lost braking control and impacted the wall-end of the runway during landing. All passengers and crew on board survived without injuries and the aircraft received damage to its nose.

Hehe... of course, now that we have flown in and out of Lukla Airport, we could list out all the accidents and have no need to worry about this airport... at least for the near future... hahaha...