Sita Air Flight 601

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Sita Air Flight 601 was a Nepalese domestic flight, due to be operated with a Dornier 228, that crashed on 28 September 2012, three minutes after it departed Tribhuvan International Airport, killing all 19 people on board.

Accident

The aircraft involved in the accident was a Dornier 228-202, registration 9N-AHA, serial number 8123; it was due to operate a domestic scheduled Kathmandu-Lukla flight. Shortly after departing Tribhuvan International Airport, the pilot reported technical issues with the aircraft, and requested to fly it back to the airport. A suspected bird strike occurred, as the aircraft may have hit a vulture. Three minutes after take-off, on the way back to the airport, the aircraft crashed on the banks of the Manohara river and caught fire. All 19 people on board perished in the accident. It was the second deadly accident to occur in Nepal in 2012, and the last of at least ten fatal crashes since 2002 A ground and air search for the aircraft was initiated, but was called off as night fell. On 10 May at 09:00 (02:00 UTC), the wreckage of the Sukhoi Superjet was found on Mount Salak.It is only known that the aircraft had been flying on a clockwise flightpath around the mountain, towards Jakarta, before the crash.Preliminary reports indicated that the aircraft had hit the edge of a cliff at an elevation of 6,270 feet (1,910 m), slid down a slope and came to rest at an elevation of 5,200 feet (1,600 m). Despite appearing relatively intact from the air, the aircraft sustained substantial damage, and there was no sign of survivors. The site of the accident was not accessible by air and no rescuers had reached the site by nightfall on 10 May. Multiple groups of rescue personnel attempted to reach the wreckage on foot.

Incident summary
Date	28 September 2012
Summary	Impacted ground, burst into flames following bird strike that caused structural damage on climb-out
Site	Madhyapur, Bhaktapur District, Nepal
Passengers	16
Crew	3
Fatalities	19
Survivors	0
Aircraft type	Dornier Do 228
Operator	Sita Air
Registration	9N-AHA
Flight origin	Tribhuvan International Airport, Kathmandu, Nepal
Destination	Tenzing-Hillary Airport, Lukla, Solukhumbu District, Nepal

Air Crash Investigation