Terror at the 最高の，を越す of the world: Why do 計画（する）s taking tourists to Nepal to visit 開始する エベレスト keep on 衝突，墜落ing?
This spring thousands of British tourists will 長，率いる to Nepal to marvel at the world's most famous mountain. But the biggest danger many will 直面する is the flight to base （軍の）野営地，陣営
The 誘惑する of the Himalayas attracts more than 100,000 trekkers, 含むing 40,000 Brits, each year to Nepal. 訪問者 numbers to エベレスト have 二塁打d since the end of the civil war there in 2006
Angie Gaunt woke up on a Friday last September to hear the 無線で通信する 発表する an 空気／公表する 衝突，墜落 in Kathmandu.
The 報告（する）／憶測 said that Britons were の中で those killed すぐに after a Sita 空気／公表する flight took off, en 大勝する to the エベレスト 地域.
Gaunt’s husband, Timothy Oakes, was in Nepal realising his long-held dream of trekking to base （軍の）野営地，陣営.
‘I jumped out of bed 叫び声をあげるing. Only a few hours earlier I’d read he was 飛行機で行くing out to Lukla to start the trek,’ she says.
She called her friend Maggie 持つ／拘留するing, whose husband Steve was travelling with Oakes. Days earlier, the four had enjoyed a meal before the men 始める，決める off for Heathrow.
Calls to the Foreign Office 確認するd that both men’s 指名するs were on the flight manifest. The FCO rang 持つ／拘留するing to 確認する Steve’s death as she watched （映画の）フィート数 of the 燃やすing 難破 on TV.
All of the 19 people on board, seven of whom were British, died. It was Nepal’s sixth 致命的な 空気／公表する 衝突，墜落 ? three of them エベレスト-bound ? in two years, a period that （人命などを）奪う，主張するd the lives of 95 people.
The 誘惑する of the Himalayas attracts more than 100,000 trekkers, 含むing 40,000 Brits, each year to Nepal. 訪問者 numbers to エベレスト have 二塁打d since the end of the civil war there in 2006.
Some 35,000 walk each year to エベレスト’s base （軍の）野営地，陣営, the 広大な 大多数 starting from Lukla’s Tenzing-Hil lary Airport.
Nepalese gather around the 燃やすing 難破 at the 衝突，墜落 場所／位置 of a Sita 空気／公表する airplane 近づく Katmandu, Nepal, on 28 September 2012, which killed all 19 Nepali, British and Chinese people on board
Climbing the 頂点（に達する） is also more popular than ever. Last spring was so busy there were 列s on the upper slopes.
This spring is the 60th 周年記念日 of the first ascent by Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay.
Trekkers and 登山者s are already flocking to Nepal to join in the 祝賀s. Thousands more will take エベレスト flights to 見解（をとる） the 頂点（に達する） from the 空気／公表する.
Now Angie Gaunt, Maggie 持つ／拘留するing and other 親族s of those killed in the Sita 空気／公表する 事故 want to know what has been done to 改善する 航空 safety.
操縦するs and 専門家s in Nepal 恐れる more 事故s will happen in a country where political 失敗 and poor 規則 are 土台を崩すing its 決定的な tourist 産業.
Sixty years ago, when the British 探検隊／遠征隊 left Kathmandu’s lush valley to climb エベレスト, they walked the whole way to base （軍の）野営地，陣営 in around three weeks.
In 1953, with few cars and very few roads, there was no choice. The first 計画（する）s only landed in Kathmandu, Nepal’s 資本／首都, in 1949. Now the city’s 汚染するd streets are clogged with traffic.
A construction にわか景気 has gobbled up 農地 to house a growing 全住民 swollen by those escaping poverty and the ten-year civil war that brought an end to the Nepalese 君主国.
Manju Pokhrel migrated to the city a １０年間 ago, and built a shack on the banks of the 汚染するd Manohara river, の近くに to Kathmandu’s airport. She was one of the few up and about that September morning.
Flights into the エベレスト 地域 start 早期に to make the most of 静める 飛行機で行くing 条件s. More than 60 flights a day land at Tenzing-Hillary Airport at the 高さ of the season.
Challenge: 上陸 at Lukla airport in the 郊外s of the Nepalese 資本／首都 of Kathmandu is tricky. Just 1,500ft long and only 60ft wide, the 滑走路 ends in a blank mountain 塀で囲む and has an 上りの／困難な gradient of 12 per cent
The Pokhrels and their 隣人s barely notice them. But Manju heard an engine 公式文書，認める that was unfamiliar.
‘It was going put-put-put-put,’ she says.
From the cowshed, her husband Badri saw an 航空機 turning 異常に low over the rooftops に向かって the slum. Manju watched it （疑いを）晴らす the corrugated roofs and plough nose-first into a 明らかにする patch of sand 150ft from where she sat.
What was so unusual with this 最新の エベレスト 衝突，墜落 was that it happened の近くに to Kathmandu and not nearer to Lukla, often 特記する／引用するd as the most challenging airstrip in the world. Built in the 早期に Sixties, Lukla airport is now an 必須の part of エベレスト 観光旅行，事業, carved into a hillside above the Dudh Kosi river at 9,200ft.
The old dirt （土地などの）細長い一片 was tarmacked in 1999, but 上陸 at Lukla is still a challenge. Just 1,500ft long and only 60ft wide, the 滑走路 ends in a blank mountain 塀で囲む and has an 上りの／困難な gradient of 12 per cent.
Only STOL (short take-off and 上陸) 航空機, like the Dornier 228 or Twin カワウソ, are able to land in such a short distance. Overshoot and you 衝突，墜落 into the hillside at its end. Undershoot and you plough into the 法外な hillside beneath.
Both have happened. The approach can only be 試みる／企てるd in good 天候 and there are still no navigational 援助（する）s.
And because the 底（に届く） of the 滑走路 is lower than the 最高の，を越す, 操縦するs 苦しむ spatial disorientat イオン, with their 航空機 lower than they think.
‘What you’re seeing is an illusion,’ says Nepal 航空機によるs 操縦する Vijay Lama.
‘It’s scintillating. I never do a 上陸 with tourists without them applauding.’
During the tourist season, in the spring and autumn, 航空機によるs in Nepal 焦点（を合わせる） on lucrative flights to エベレスト. Foreign 訪問者s to the country 支払う／賃金 a hefty 賞与金 to subsidise seats for Nepalese 乗客s.
The half-hour flight from Kathmandu to Lukla costs a foreigner $127. Seventy per cent of Nepal’s 国内の 空気／公表する freight also passes through Lukla to service the エベレスト trekking 産業.
With only four parking bays at the tiny （土地などの）細長い一片, at 頂点（に達する） times 操縦するs have just five minutes to turn around and 長，率いる 支援する to Kathmandu.
出来事/事件s ? minor 事故s where the 航空機 bumps into something ? are not uncommon but often go unreported.
Timothy Oakes, left, from Warrington, died when the 計画（する） he was travelling in 衝突，墜落d in Katmandu as he was about to start a 16 day Himalayan trek in the Khumba Pass. His friend Stephen 持つ／拘留するing (権利) pictured with his wife Maggie, also died. The two men were の中で seven Britons who died after last September's 計画（する） 衝突，墜落
And with so little time on the ground, 操縦するs can’t check on what’s 存在 put on board. With Nepal’s laissez-faire 態度 to 規則, 航空機 routinely leave Lukla 積みすぎる.
Ang Chhu, a sherpa who has worked on dozens of 探検隊／遠征隊s and climbed エベレスト three times, says everyone knows how to get extra 負わせる の上に a flight.
‘You give the baggage loader 1,000 rupees (£7.50) and they’ll get it on. Either they’ll overload the 航空機 or they’ll take someone else’s stuff off. The tourist only finds out when they’ve landed at Kathmandu.’
‘I can almost 保証（人） you that all the flights in and out of Lukla are 積みすぎる,’ says Lama.
‘Taking off from Kathmandu
, you can feel if the 航空機’s too 激しい. I’m very strict about it. I’ll go 支援する. But can you do that if you are 飛行機で行くing for a 私的な 航空機による?’
Nepal’s 私的な 航空機によるs are doing their 最大の to cash in on the country’s にわか景気ing 観光旅行，事業 部門.
Bad 天候 frequently の近くにs Tenzing-Hillary Airport during the season and tourists become desperate to 飛行機で行く out to? connect with flights home.
In 2011, cloud obscured Lukla for a week, and 4,000 tourists and sherpas （人が）群がるd into the village.
Food prices 急に上がるd and tempers frayed. It’s in 条件s like this that 空気／公表する traffic 監査役s come under 圧力 and 賄賂s 交換（する） 手渡すs to move tourists up the waiting 名簿（に載せる）／表（にあげる）.
地元の 政治家，政治屋s, 航空機によるs, police, even tourists can get 接近 to 支配（する）／統制する towers and lean on 監査役s to 許す flights.
‘監査役s have to be 孤立するd from the public at remote 空気／公表する （土地などの）細長い一片s,’ Lama 警告するs.
‘Nobody should be able to go in the tower.’
Lama is an outspoken critic of how 航空 is 規制するd and managed in Nepal.
‘The biggest question is why so many 事故s have occurred in our country. We play this game of throwing the ball into someone else’s 法廷，裁判所 all the time. We have to 受託する our mistakes.’
Four months on from the Sita 空気／公表する 災害, I’m standing at the 位置／汚点／見つけ出す where the 航空機 （機の）カム 負かす／撃墜する, looking for answers.
A gaggle of boys and girls are playing football nearby. 捨てるs of half-燃やすd trekking gear still 嘘（をつく） in the dirt ? the 最高の，を越す of a ski po
le, half a walking boot ? along with what looks like a piece of the 航空機 itself.
This spring is the 60th 周年記念日 of the first ascent by Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay. Trekkers and 登山者s are already flocking to Nepal to join in the 祝賀s
急に上がるing in the sky on the flight path to the airport are 黒人／ボイコット 道具s that 料金d on the rubbish 捨てるd in the filthy water.
The 操縦する of the doomed 計画（する）, Captain Bijay Tandukar, 報告（する）／憶測d hitting one of these birds, 厳しく 損失ing the 権利 engine during take-off.
専門家s in Nepal believe fragments from the engine may have 損失d the tail fin, taking the 航空機 either 完全に or 部分的に／不公平に out of his 支配（する）／統制する.
地元の people on the ground believe Tandukar steered his stricken 計画（する） away from the （軍の）野営地，陣営; some 操縦するs agree. Until the 公式の／役人 事故 報告（する）／憶測 is 解放（する）d no one can be sure.
It took 15 minutes for police to arrive and start moving hundreds of
onlookers away from the 燃やすing 難破.
Almost half an hour after the 衝突，墜落, the first 解雇する／砲火／射撃 engine appeared but on the wrong 味方する of the river, which was swollen with late-summer rain.
When the 解雇する／砲火／射撃 was out, police turned the tail fin on its 味方する, 混乱に陥れる／中断させるing the 場所／位置 before 捜査官／調査官s could arrive. Then the 航空 当局 did what they usually do に引き続いて a 衝突，墜落 in Nepal ? they 非難するd the 操縦する.
On the morning of the 衝突，墜落, at her home in Kathmandu, the 操縦する’s wife Julie Tandukar got a call from one of her husband’s 操縦する friends.
He told her there had been an 事故 and to turn on the television. Like Maggie 持つ／拘留するing, she saw her husband’s 航空機 on the 審査する in 炎上s.
Tandukar had been a 操縦する for 15 years. At the time of his death, he was planning to 熟考する／考慮する in America to become Sita 空気／公表する’s 操縦する 指導者.
Yet even while the 難破 was still smouldering, an 公式の／役人 at the 航空 省, Suresh Acharya, told the マスコミ that に引き続いて the bird strike the 操縦する had been ‘panic-stricken’, and had tried to turn too quickly to 回復する the 滑走路. This was the story that went 一連の会議、交渉／完成する the world, but his comments 怒り／怒るd Tandukar’s family.
‘On what basis did he say this?’ says Julie Tandukar. ‘If he’d said this 個人として to 同僚s, that would have been 罰金, but not to the マスコミ. We have to wait for the 事故 報告（する）／憶測. He doesn’t know what happened.’
すぐに after his 圧力（をかける） 要点説明, Acharya was 任命するd to the 衝突，墜落 調査 team.
Julie Tandukar says she hasn ’t been able to tell her five-year-old son that his father is dead.
‘We told him his father’s in America buying him a 計画（する）. You know, a lot of people by the river think my husband is like a god for taking the 航空機 away from their homes.’
操縦するs are still seen as glamorous in Nepal, but thanks to １０年間s of political 干渉，妨害 and 汚職 the 国家の 航空機による has turned from 存在 a source of pride into a 国家の joke. It now has より小数の than half a dozen 航空機 in service.?
Leaner 私的な 操作者s have taken up the slack but insiders say it’s too 平易な to start a 国内の 航空機による in Nepal.
The 名簿（に載せる）／表（にあげる） of failed 航空機によるs easily はるかに引き離すs those still in 商売／仕事. When one goes 破産した／（警察が）手入れする, like Agni 空気／公表する did recently after two 致命的な 衝突，墜落s, remaining 航空機 are sold on to a new 操作者.
操縦するs say they are under too much 圧力 from their bosses during busy periods and that the Civil 航空 当局 of Nepal (CAAN) isn’t 有能な of 演説（する）／住所ing the problems 土台を崩すing safety. They worry that 激しい traffic in the エベレスト 地域 could lead to a 中央の-空気／公表する 衝突／不一致.
操縦するs say they are under too much 圧力 from their bosses during busy periods and worry that 激しい traffic in the エベレスト 地域 could lead to a 中央の-空気／公表する 衝突／不一致
‘CAAN cannot の近くに its 注目する，もくろむs any more,’ says Lama. ‘There have been too many 衝突，墜落s. It’s the same in lots of 発展途上国s.
'We bring in a system but we don’t make people stick to it. The regulatory 団体／死体 hasn’t been able to keep up with the growth in 航空. We have the same 航空機, but twice the traffic.’
Nagendra Prasad Ghimire is the 議長，司会を務める of the 調査 board for the Sita 空気／公表する 衝突，墜落 and worked at the civil 航空 省 for 36 years.
He knows his team is under の近くに scrutiny. 捜査官／調査官s from the UK’s 空気／公表する 事故 調査 Board have also flown to Nepal to form their own judgments.
He 認めるs police 妥協d the 衝突，墜落 場所／位置 but （人命などを）奪う，主張するs the tail section was moved as part of the ‘救助（する） 操作／手術’.
Ghimire 収容する／認めるs there is some ‘hanky-panky’ with overloading 航空機 but that 規則s are 施行するd.
He says 開発 貸付金s could bring new 航海 援助（する）s to Lukla and that traffic growth is under 支配（する）／統制する.
‘We (have) 学校／設けるd a traffic flow system. Lukla needs to know how much traffic it’s getting. So far so good.’
疑問s about 規則 and 欠如（する） of 投資 in Nepalese civil 航空 could have 悲惨な consequences for エベレスト 観光旅行，事業 as 親族s 捜し出す 合法的な 是正する and foreign 政府s try to 保護する their 国家のs.
In Nepal, 補償（金） for families of 空気／公表する-衝突，墜落 犠牲者s is 限られた／立憲的な to $20,000 (£13,400), an anachronism in modern civil 航空.
‘商業の 操作者s with low levels of 義務／負債 don’t make 飛行機で行くing safer,’ says James Healy-Pratt, 長，率いる of 航空 at 法律 会社／堅い Stewarts 法律.
In the UK, he 追加するs, there’s no such 制限, and 小旅行する 操作者s might find themselves liable under European 法律.
Hampshire-based 調査する 世界的な, the company that organised the trek for all the British 犠牲者s, has already joined with other 操作者s to send an 独立した・無所属 航空 auditor to Nepal, によれば managing director Ashley Toft.
The European 航空 Safety 機関 has written to CAAN asking what is 存在 done about 改善するing safety. Some 専門家s believe that one or more of Nepal’s 国内の 航空機によるs will soon be placed on the EU’s blacklist.
地元の people are planning a 祈り 儀式 for the first 周年記念日 of the Sita 空気／公表する 衝突，墜落. Angie Gaunt and Maggie 持つ／拘留するing say they are 感謝する to the Foreign Office and 賞賛する the charity 災害 活動／戦闘. But they are still waiting for answers.
‘I would never have said to Steve, “Don’t go, it’s too dangerous,”’ says Maggie 持つ／拘留するing.
‘These things always happen to other people, don’t they? It should have been the best experience ever in the mountains and I would very much wish for others to have that experience ? but 安全に.’?
