The plane that crashed at Tribhuvan International Airport in Kathmandu, Nepal, has a history full of accidents. It is manufactured by Canadian company Bombardier. This is CRJ200 model plane. Nepal’s private airlines company Saurya Airlines has three such planes. The accidents we are talking about are related to the model of this plane. Not of Surya Airlines.
The plane was 21 years old and was being repaired.
Saury Airlines has told that this aircraft was Bombardier CRJ-200ER. Whose registration number was 9N-AME and serial number was 7772. This aircraft was made in the year 2003. Was going for repairs. Before the accident, all the 19 people sitting in the plane were employees of Saurya Airlines.
Also read: Nepal Plane Crash: Plane crash during take off at Tribhuvan Airport in Nepal, bodies of 13 passengers have been taken out so far
Why was the plane going to Pokhara?
Saury Airlines has said that its CRJ200ER aircraft was going to Pokhara so that regular repairs could be done. Technical inspection was to be done. Pokhara International Airport spokesperson Jashoda Regmi said that this aircraft was going to be kept in the hangar for a month. So that repairs can be done after technical inspection.
Jashoda said that just as a bike and a car are serviced, we service this plane in the same way. This plane crashed at 11.11 am during takeoff. This plane has crashed on runway 20. While it took off from Runway 2.
Where does Saurya Airlines provide services?
Since August 2017, this company is providing flight services to seven destinations in Nepal. These places are- Bhadrapur, Biratnagar, Dhangarhi, Kathmandu, Nepalganj, Pokhara and Siddharthnagar. Bombardier’s CRJ200 aircraft is a 50 seater. That means 50 people can travel in it. It looks similar to CRJ100.
Although this is an upgraded plane from the earlier version. Bombardier’s planes have a history full of accidents. There have been 14 major accidents from July 26, 2003 to 2016. On November 14, 2004, a plane of this model met with an accident in China. The incident took place in Inner Mongolia. Then 53 people were killed. A similar accident happened in Kentucky in 2006, where 49 people were killed.
See here the list of dead released by Saurya Airlines
There are two cockpit crew in this aircraft. The height of the cabin is 6.1 feet. Whereas the width is 8.3 feet. The length of this aircraft is 87.10 feet, wingspan is 20.8 feet.
Also read: Plane crashes at Tribhuvan Airport in Nepal
This aircraft can fly with a maximum weight of 6124 kg. An aircraft carries a maximum of 8081 liters of fuel. Once filled with fuel, it can go up to a maximum range of 3056 kilometers. Its maximum speed is 860 km/hr. It can reach a maximum height of 41 thousand feet. It requires a runway of at least 1770 meters for takeoff. A 1480 meter runway also serves for landing.