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Coordinates: 28°03′09″N 85°27′03″E / 28.05250°N 85.45083°E / 28.05250; 85.45083
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{{Refimprove|date=May 2018}}
{{Refimprove|date=May 2018}}
{{Infobox aircraft occurrence
{{Infobox aircraft occurrence
| name = Thai Airways International Flight 311
| name = 1992 Thai Airways International Flight 311
| image = Thai Airways International Airbus A310-300 JetPix.jpg
| image = Thai Airways International Airbus A310-300 JetPix.jpg
| alt =
| alt =
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| Destination = [[Tribhuvan International Airport]], <br> [[Kathmandu]], Nepal
| Destination = [[Tribhuvan International Airport]], <br> [[Kathmandu]], Nepal
}}
}}
'''Thai Airways International Flight 311''' was a flight from [[Bangkok]], [[Thailand]]'s [[Don Mueang International Airport]] to [[Kathmandu]], [[Nepal]]'s [[Kathmandu Airport|Tribhuvan International Airport]]. On Friday, 31 July 1992, an [[Airbus A310|A310-304]] on the route, [[Aircraft registration|registration]] {{Airreg|HS|TID|,}} crashed on approach to [[Kathmandu]]. At 07:00:26 [[UTC]] (12:45:26 [[Nepal Standard Time|NST]]; 14:00:26 [[Indochina Time|ICT]]), the aircraft crashed into the side of a mountain 37 kilometres north of Kathmandu at an altitude of 11,500 feet and a ground speed of 300 nautical miles per hour, killing all 99 passengers and 14 crew members.<ref name=ASN>{{cite web|title=Accident Description|url=http://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19920731-0|website=Aviation Safety Network|accessdate=15 May 2016}}</ref><ref name=Findlaw>{{cite web|title=KOIRALA v. THAI AIRWAYS INTERNATIONAL LTD|url=https://caselaw.findlaw.com/us-9th-circuit/1233762.html|website=FindLaw|accessdate=15 May 2016}}</ref>
'''1992 Thai Airways International Flight 311''' was a flight from [[Bangkok]], [[Thailand]]'s [[Don Mueang International Airport]] to [[Kathmandu]], [[Nepal]]'s [[Kathmandu Airport|Tribhuvan International Airport]]. On Friday, 31 July 1992, an [[Airbus A310|A310-304]] on the route, [[Aircraft registration|registration]] {{Airreg|HS|TID|,}} crashed on approach to [[Kathmandu]]. At 07:00:26 [[UTC]] (12:45:26 [[Nepal Standard Time|NST]]; 14:00:26 [[Indochina Time|ICT]]), the aircraft crashed into the side of a mountain 37 kilometres north of Kathmandu at an altitude of 11,500 feet and a ground speed of 300 nautical miles per hour, killing all 99 passengers and 14 crew members.<ref name=ASN>{{cite web|title=Accident Description|url=http://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19920731-0|website=Aviation Safety Network|accessdate=15 May 2016}}</ref><ref name=Findlaw>{{cite web|title=KOIRALA v. THAI AIRWAYS INTERNATIONAL LTD|url=https://caselaw.findlaw.com/us-9th-circuit/1233762.html|website=FindLaw|accessdate=15 May 2016}}</ref>


== Aircraft and crew ==
== Aircraft and crew ==

Revision as of 02:22, 28 September 2018

1992 Thai Airways International Flight 311
HS-TID, the aircraft involved in the accident seen at Don Mueang International Airport in April 1992
Accident
Date31 July 1992
SummaryControlled flight into terrain due to pilot error, ATC error, and loss of situation awareness in inclement weather
SiteLangtang National Park, Nepal
Aircraft typeAirbus A310-304
Aircraft nameBuri Ram
OperatorThai Airways International
RegistrationHS-TID
Flight originDon Mueang International Airport,
Bangkok, Thailand
DestinationTribhuvan International Airport,
Kathmandu, Nepal
Passengers99
Crew14
Fatalities113
Survivors0

1992 Thai Airways International Flight 311 was a flight from Bangkok, Thailand's Don Mueang International Airport to Kathmandu, Nepal's Tribhuvan International Airport. On Friday, 31 July 1992, an A310-304 on the route, registration HS-TID, crashed on approach to Kathmandu. At 07:00:26 UTC (12:45:26 NST; 14:00:26 ICT), the aircraft crashed into the side of a mountain 37 kilometres north of Kathmandu at an altitude of 11,500 feet and a ground speed of 300 nautical miles per hour, killing all 99 passengers and 14 crew members.[1][2]

Aircraft and crew

The aircraft involved was a five-year-old Airbus A310-304 registered as HS-TID. The aircraft's first flight was on 2 October 1987, and was delivered to Wardair with the registration C-FGWD. The aircraft was then owned and operated by Canadian Airlines on 15 January 1990 (with the same registration), following CA's acquisition of Wardair in 1989. The aircraft was then delivered to Thai Airways on 9 May 1990 and given its registration as HS-TID.[1]

The flight crew consisted of Captain Preeda Suttimai (41), First Officer Phunthat Boonyayej (52), and a cabin crew of 12 flight attendants.

Accident

Flight 311 departed Bangkok at 10:30 local time. It was scheduled to arrive in Kathmandu at 12:55 Nepal Standard Time.[3] After crossing into Nepalese airspace the pilots contacted air traffic control 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.[4]

Shortly after reporting the Sierra fix ten miles south of the Kathmandu VOR, the aircraft called ATC asking for a diversion to Calcutta, India because of a "technical problem".[5] Before ATC could reply, the flight rescinded their previous transmission. The flight was then cleared for a straight-in Sierra approach to Runway 02 and told to report leaving 9,500 feet (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.

Memorial park in Kakani, Nepal

A number of frustrating and misleading communications (due partly to language problems and partly to the inexperience of the air traffic controller, who was a trainee with only nine months on the job) ensued between air traffic control and the pilots regarding Flight 311's altitude and distance from the airport. 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. 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, and he therefore cleared the aircraft to 11,500 feet (3,505 m), an altitude that would have been safe in the area south of the airport. The flight descended back to 11,500 feet, went through a 360-degree turn, and passed over the airport northbound.

Seconds before impact, the ground proximity warning system activated, and sounded alarms warning the crew of the imminent collision with the mountains. First officer Boonyayej warned captain Suttimai and urged him to turn the aircraft around, but due to his frustration from the communications with ATC, Suttimai erroneously stated the GPWS was just giving false reports. The aircraft crashed into a steep rock face in a remote area of the Langtang National Park at an altitude of 11,500 feet, killing all 113 people on board.

Investigation

Investigators from the Nepalese aviation authority, Airbus Industrie, and the Transportation Safety Board of Canada (which assisted with technical details) determined that the aircraft had experienced a minor fault in the workings of the inboard trailing flaps just after the aircraft reached the Sierra reporting fix. Concerned that the complex approach into Kathmandu in instrument conditions would be difficult with malfunctioning flaps and frustrated by ATC and his first officer's inconclusive and weak answers to his questions, the captain decided to divert to Calcutta.[6] The flaps suddenly began to work properly, but the captain was forced to resolve more aspects of the difficult approach himself due to his first officer's lack of initiative. Only after numerous extremely frustrating exchanges with ATC was the captain able to obtain adequate weather information for the airport, but by that time he had overflown Kathmandu and the aircraft was headed towards the Himalayas.[6]

Crash site of Flight 311, between Ghopte and Tharepati Pass, Nepal

Nepalese authorities found that the probable causes of the accident were the captain's and controller's loss of situational awareness; language and technical problems caused the captain to experience frustration and a high workload;[6] the first officer's lack of initiative and inconclusive answers to the captain's questions; the air traffic controller's inexperience, poor grasp of English, and reluctance to interfere with what he saw as piloting matters such as terrain separation; poor supervision of the inexperienced air traffic controller; Thai Airways International's failure to provide simulator training for the complex Kathmandu approach to its pilots; and improper use of the aircraft's flight management system.[4]

Victims

Nationality Passengers Crew Total
 Australia 1 - 1
 Belgium 5 - 5
 Canada 2 - 2
 Finland 5 - 5
 Germany 4 - 4
 Israel 2 - 2
 Japan 17 - 17
 Nepal 23 - 23
 New Zealand 1 - 1
 South Korea 2 - 2
 Spain 3 - 3
 Thailand 21 14 35
 United Kingdom 2 - 2
 United States 11 - 11
Total 99 14 113[7]

Aftermath

Flight 311 was retired after the accident, including its outbound flight 312 to Bangkok. They were both reassigned to flights 319 and 320, respectively and were still operated by Airbus A310. They now use the Boeing 777 aircraft after the Airbus A310 fleet were phased out by the airline in 2001. The remains of the aircraft can still be seen in Langtang National Park on the trek from Ghopte to the Tharepati Pass.

Dramatization

The crash of Thai Airways International Flight 311 is featured in the Tenth Episode on the Season 17 of Mayday (Air Crash Investigation). The episode is titled "The Lost Plane".

See also

References

  1. ^ a b "Accident Description". Aviation Safety Network. Retrieved 15 May 2016.
  2. ^ "KOIRALA v. THAI AIRWAYS INTERNATIONAL LTD". FindLaw. Retrieved 15 May 2016.
  3. ^ "Thai Airliner Crashes In Nepal's Himalayan Foothills; 113 Aboard -- 11 Americans Are Listed As Among The Passengers". Seattle Times. AP. 31 July 1992. Retrieved 15 May 2016.
  4. ^ a b Learmount, David (9 June 1993). "Confusion caused Kathmandu A310 crash" (PDF). Flight Global. Retrieved 15 May 2016.
  5. ^ Special to The New York Times (2 August 1992). "Rescue Teams Fail to Find Thai Jet That Crashed With 113 Aboard". The New York Times. NYTimes Co.
  6. ^ a b c Hoang, Vicki (1996). "Cultural Factors in Aviation Incidents and Accidents: Thai Airways International Flight TG-311 — Kathmandu, Nepal". Cockpit-Cabin Communication: The Impact of National and Occupational Cultures (Master's thesis). San Jose, CA: San Jose State University. pp. 11–13. Document No.1382581 – via ProQuest Dissertations Publishing.
  7. ^ "113 Feared Dead in Nepal Crash; Thai jetliner slams into Himalayan hillside during heavy monsoon rains". Los Angeles Times. Associated Press. 1 August 1992.

28°03′09″N 85°27′03″E / 28.05250°N 85.45083°E / 28.05250; 85.45083

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