Flying to Lukla

Two weeks ago I flew out twice of Kathmandu with Agni Air, each time on a Dornier 9N-AHE. The first one landed back in Kathmandu while the second made the rather scary landing in Lukla. This morning I flew back from Lukla in one of those.


Considering that this happened 2 months ago, I was a little concerned, but aware that the authorities would probably be a little more cautious.

It's a tiny plane that takes about 14 people at one time. There's even a flight attendant onboard who gives out cotton balls (for your ears) and sweets.


It's great if you sit right in front, because you get to see everything in the cockpit.


I wasn't quite sure what the GPS was meant to show. I assumed it worked only because I survived all three flights.



I still got a kick out of the seat belt and no-smoking sign.

Take off take two

More than a week ago, on Sunday 17 October 2010 (or Ashwin 31, 2067 by the Nepali calendar), I had the priviledge of facing the crush at Kathmandu domestic terminal, getting on a plane, getting to the Himalayas, before being told that the flight would be turning back to Kathmandu.

The alternative would have been this. The landing at Lukla - my destination - is not the safest in the world. It's basically a runway facing a cliff. The weather had been bad all week and it was a small miracle that the weather cleared just enough for the two flights before mine to land.

I was quite glad that we turned back, though I can't speak for the French trio I met who'd also been on a flight that had been turned back the day before. I was also glad that the pilots / airline didn't feel the pressure to land the plane, given that out of the previous 7 days, 5 days' worth of flights to Lukla had been cancelled. An aviation catastrophe of another kind.

So I made my way back to the Kathmandu domestic terminal the next day. The ladies at the counter remembered me and since there was a free seat on the first flight of the day, that was the flight I got. I suppose it helps when you're 'that foreigner who speaks a little Nepali'. It also helps when you don't throw a tantrum at the check-in staff for not seeing your name on the list of 'confirmed seats', causing you to wait around for 1.5 hours until you get them to check the list again only to discover that hey, your name was on the list all along...

And yes, the plane landed in Lukla that day.