Why is it so challenging to fly a plane safely in Nepal?

The deadly crash of Yeti Airlines Flight 691 in Nepal is drawing attention to the country’s air safety record. Officials believe all 72 people aboard the ATR 72

twin-engine turboprop were killed in the crash in central Nepal on Sunday. It’s the country’s deadliest such disaster in 30 years, according to a database maintained by the

Aviation Safety Network, but it’s far from unique: More than 700 people have died in air crashes in Nepal since 1992, officials there said. ‘No survivors’ in Nepal plane

crash, official says; black boxes recovered “Because of its terrain, because of its weather, because there is a need to fly between places — many of these communities are not

connected by roads — it will always be a challenging environment with a higher level of risk than other parts of the world,” aviation safety consultant Adrian Young told The

Washington Post. Here are some reasons Nepal is so challenging for pilots. Mountains Nepal is home to eight of the world’s highest peaks, including Mount

Everest. “It is a most challenging operating environment,” aviation safety consultant Ron Bartsch told The Post. Three factors linked to Nepal’s mountainous terrain make

flying difficult: High elevation airports, short runways and strong winds. In a 2019 report, Nepal’s Civil Aviation Authority cited the country’s “hostile” topography as

one of two main air safety challenges. The other is weather. Analysts say weather and mountains could explain why so many of Nepal’s air crashes are classified as

controlled flights into terrain, or CFITs, when a pilot crashes without appearing to have lost control.