For the last week I’ve been fixated on flying the same route.
On May 29, 2022 the crew of a de Havilland twin otter performing the short flight from Pokhara to Jomsom (Nepal) crashed into the mountainside approx. 7 nm from the Jomsom airport. Sadly, all 22 people aboard perished.
The final accident report was released a week ago and is an interesting read for those of you that like to learn from such events.
I’ve now simmed the route multiple times (but in the Blacksquare King Air because I don’t have a twin otter) and find it both facinating and chilling to realize that this is an actual commercial route. It is VFR only (and therein lies the root cause of the accident for the flight encountered IMC) and is challenging even when severe clear conditions exist.
If you want to try it, the visual navigation proceedure they used stipulates joining the Pokhara 298 degree radial out to 20 DME. After this, a course of 345 degrees for 19 miles to join the valley that leads into Jomsom – course 052 degrees for 11 miles. It was on this final stretch that the aircraft was, unfortunately, off-course a bit to the left.
You should do this without GPS. Your first attempt will surely induce some anxiety as you search for the airport up ahead, hoping that you have descended into the correct valley!