December 29: The air crash investigation commission formed by the government to probe the fatal crash of Yeti Airlines in Pokhara almost a year ago has concluded that the ATR-72 aircraft of the company crashed on January 15 due to human error.

The commission submitted its report to the government on Thursday. The report prepared by the inquiry commission chaired by former secretary Nagendra Prasad Ghimire handed over its report to Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation, Sudan Kirati.    

Budhisagar Lamichhane, member secretary of the commission, said it was a new airport for the pilot and it was human error that was responsible for the crash.    

Chair of the Commission Nagendra Prasad Ghimire said that the main cause of the ATR-72 airplane crash was pilot’s fault. Analyzing the crash indicated human error as the main factor. Another reason for the plane crash was that the new airport was put into operation without full preparation.    

Upon receiving the report, Minister Kirati expressed his commitment that the management, regulatory bodies and the ministry would give necessary instructions to strictly implement the recommendations made by the report.    

A total of 72 passengers including four crew members had died after the aircraft crashed into the Seti river gorge while trying to land in the newly built Pokhara International Airport.  

Earlier, a preliminary report prepared by the same probe panel had found that the ill-fated aircraft did not have any thrust in both the engines while making the final attempt to land at the airport, which led to the fatal accident. The commission had reached the conclusion after studying the cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder of the plane recovered from the crash site.

An amateur video circulating on social media at that time showed the aircraft tilting towards the left before losing its balance to crash indicating that the aircraft had stalled due to lack of thrust, according to experts.