The recent collision over Potomac that resulted in sixty-seven fatalities has not just shaken the US Aviation establishment but also the whole of the USA. The outrage was natural given that the Americans were accustomed to an extremely safe flight environment. The horrendous collision between a passenger liner and a military helicopter, that too at the heart of the US capital was just unthinkable.

USA had over two hundred thousand “general aviation” (GA) aircraft in 2021.This represents civilian aircraft operations that are used for private flying, business travel etc. That beside, there are 297 registered domestic airlines and 14 big carriers. To this add other international carriers that fly in/out of USA, the scale becomes truly massive even without considering the military side of aviation. One needs to view the above mentioned accident with this massive movement of air traffic in mind.

Annual accident data brings out interesting facts to the fore; there were 81 recorded incidents in 2024 and 22 fatalities in 9 separate instances. One may wonder about the hue and cry even as the Potomac crash was negligibly “tiny” in contrast to the colossal volume of movements. Even then, it is still perceived as an extremely serious accident, and be rightly treated as such.

Incidentally, Pokhara ATR crash (2023) alone had more fatalities (72) than the collision over Potomac. It will be interesting to see how they go about investigating the root cause of this double tragedy and how quickly they adopt the necessary changes required to prevent its happening again. The resulting investigation recommendations will be strictly followed, unlike merely treated as a “ritualistic procedure” here.

Though comparatively small, the DC’s National Airport (DCA) with 3 runways has heavy traffic. Helicopter are generally required to fly not above 200ft (ceiling) in the DC area, that too along only designated corridors. Despite the thin margin of vertical separation, they seem to have managed quite efficiently this far.

Assume it is normal for crews to remain focused on runway threshold and instruments rather than be concerned about other surrounding traffic during landing approach. The helicopter, in this case, was asked if it had the landing craft in sight, to which the reply was in the affirmative, and there after the onus of maintaining the vertical separation rested solely on the copter. Seems that they tragically mistook another aircraft, not the one that was much closer and heading to land it crashed into. Given what we known until now, it looks like the helicopter may have not just breached the 200ftceilingbut might also have strayed from its designated path. We do not know why and how it all came to happen. For that, we will have to wait until the investigation gets completed and the findings made public. Interestingly enough, it has come to be known that, just a day earlier; another military helicopter had also come too close to another regional jet, forcing the aircraft to make a go-around at the last moment. Obviously, it was an ominous incident happening at the same airport. The investigators will definitely dig if there were more of such happenings in earlier instances too.

From the point of view of crash with total fatalities there is nothing comparable between Potomac and one at Pokhara, except that both begin with two identical alphabets. While over there they fell into the freezing Potomac, for the Yeti’s ATR it was the inhospitable Seti gorge. The helicopter was on a training mission and the ATR was on first officer’s “upgradation” check flight that didn’t resemblance anything like being so as the leaked CVR revealed later. However, as regards being resolute in finding the root cause and resolving conflicting issues, both will be poles apart. So much for our aviation safety, they have no qualm in making hollow claims about doing their best to keep Nepal skies safe.

Keeping on with other aviation related topic on our side, wonder why everything gets deliberately delayed here every time? The latest example related to one of RA’s A320 that it almost ran out of the stipulated safe flying hour limit, resulting in grounding. It is time, the sin of keeping aircraft be treated as a criminal offense. Why do the company honchos and their masters still grumble about the “medieval” rules, while doing nothing to get it repealed or amended? It becomes clear if only one could see the inherent motive that goes behind such “smooth” operational practices. A pinhole camera might help one understand why it is so here. What we see or get to hear every day is not the real thing, the real thing is just its opposite, as that with reversed pinhole image. The cover provided by the “medieval rule” continues to help the unscrupulous help bleed the airline and it has been so since long. They will never ever let go the legendary goose, if they could.

It is sounds very outrageously outlandish, perhaps, it also explains why Nepal has remained helplessly stuck in EASA’s bad books for so long, while Pakistan was out of it in just four years. It is true that Nepal aviation poses no challenge, whatsoever, to any other airline, nor is it likely to be able to do so in the foreseeable future. But what if, a big IF, some adversaries, nevertheless, try to stop such “unlikely” happening would not mind throwing few bread crumbs occasionally to keep our folks happy wallowing in it. Ever wondered why the vital bill that had intended to break CAAN into two separate organizations comprising of service provider and regulator was withdrawn from the parliament earlier despite EASA having taken it as a very serious noncompliance (NC) issue? The stinking mess is more due to deliberate political doing than incompetence on the part of CAAN alone, notwithstanding, greedy honchos. Now that the bill has been introduced for the second time, we hope that it will be adopted soon and help end the pathetic chapter of Nepal aviation.

Hemant Arjyal can be reached at harjyal@yahoo.com