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1975 Royal Nepal Airlines Pilatus PC-6 Porter crash

31 Mar 1975 · Boudhanath, Kathmandu Nepal

Pilatus PC-6 Porter · Controlled flight into terrain

From Tribhuvan International Airport (KTM) to Phaplu Airport (PPL)

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Event

Event typeAccident: someone killed or seriously injured, or the aircraft substantially damaged (NTSB definition). Incident: an occurrence that affected or could have affected safety, short of that. Glossary
Accident
Event fatalities
5 · all aircraft and ground
Ground fatalities
Unknown
Occupants
Unknown
Survivors
0
InjuriesFatal: death within 30 days. Serious: over 48 hours in hospital within a week, most broken bones, severe bleeding, nerve or organ damage, or serious burns. Minor: anything less. Glossary
0
OperationWhat kind of flying it was, grouped by the rules it flew under: airline (US Part 121), air taxi and commuter (Part 135), general aviation (Part 91 and similar), military or government. Glossary
Airline

Pilatus PC-6 Porter

Aircraft type
Pilatus PC-6
Category
Airplane · from aircraft type
RegistrationThe aircraft's tail number, such as N12345 or G-ABCD. Registrations are reissued, so the same one years apart can be a different aircraft. Glossary
9N-AAZ
Onboard fatalities
5
Route
From Tribhuvan International Airport (KTM)To Phaplu Airport (PPL)

Approximate · Coordinates from the Wikipedia article; not checked against an investigation report.

From the Wikipedia article

On 31 March 1975, a Pilatus PC-6 Porter (registration number 9N-AAZ, and serial number 727), operated by Royal Nepal Airlines crashed in Nepal en route from Tribhuvan International Airport to Phaplu Airport on a domestic charter flight. The flight was chartered by Sir Edmund Hillary to bring his wife Louise and daughter Belinda to Phaplu, where he was building a hospital. The plane crashed shortly after takeoff.

Accident

The flight was a chartered flight, that took off from Tribhuvan International Airport at or before 7:30 a.m. NPT for its flight to Phaplu Airport. The aircraft took off on runway 20 in a southern direction, but the pilot directly asked for permission to land. The aircraft turned towards the right but was unable to make a landing, crashing into a ditch behind the northern end of the runway.

Text from the Wikipedia article “1975 Royal Nepal Airlines Pilatus PC-6 Porter crash” (revision 1339314855, retrieved 2026-09-18) by its authors, under CC BY-SA 4.0. Extracted as plain text: references, tables, images and some sections are left out. Read the article

Sources

Wikipedia article: 1975 Royal Nepal Airlines Pilatus PC-6 Porter crash
Article
1975 Royal Nepal Airlines Pilatus PC-6 Porter crash
Revision
1339314855 · 2026-02-19 · retrieved 2026-09-18
Wikidata
Q96363315
Licence
Text CC BY-SA 4.0, by the article's authors; Wikidata CC0; town positions GeoNames (CC BY 4.0)
Where each value comes from
Record
Wikipedia article "1975 Royal Nepal Airlines Pilatus PC-6 Porter crash" (page 64117656, revision 1339314855)
Date
Wikipedia infobox: date
Place and country
Wikipedia infobox: site
Map position
Wikipedia article coordinates
Aircraft, operator and route
Wikipedia infobox: aircraft type, registration, operator, origin and destination; route airports from the linked airport articles' Wikidata codes (OurAirports)
Operation
operator named as an airline in the infobox
Fatalities
Wikipedia infobox: aircraft fatalities
Ground fatalities
not stated in the Wikipedia infobox
Summary
Wikipedia infobox: summary
Source notes (1)
  • Wikipedia · Facts from the Wikipedia article's infobox and coordinates, not checked against an investigation report. Independent review pending.