Bombardier joins probe of crashes in Nepal

Bombardier Inc. is sending two officials to Nepal on Tuesday to assist with the investigation of one of two deadly aircraft crashes over the past couple of days involving its Q400 turbo and Challenger business jet.

An air safety senior investigator will act as an adviser and a field service representative will support the airline, said spokeswoman Nathalie Siphengphet.

The Montreal-based company hasn’t been asked by Iranian officials for assistance in trying to determine the cause of a Sunday crash that claimed 11 lives.

At least 50 people were killed Monday when a US Bangla Airlines passenger plane carrying 71 people from Bangladesh crashed and burst into flames as it landed Monday in Kathmandu, Nepal’s capital, officials and witnesses said.

The incident came a day after all 11 people on board a private Turkish Challenger 604 business jet crashed and burst into flames on an Iranian mountainside while bringing a wealthy businessman’s daughter and her friends home from a Dubai bachelorette party.

Bombardier representatives for the commercial and business aircraft divisions said the company was saddened by the accidents, adding their thoughts were with those impacted and their families.

Siphengphet and Mark Masluch said the planes are “safe and reliable” and other planes haven’t been grounded.

“It (Q400) has been designed to be robust and reliable in consideration to high cycle demands of regional airlines,” Siphengphet said.

Masluch said more than 1,000 Challenger 600 series planes have been delivered and are “one of the most robust and reliable aircraft in business aviation.”

He called the back-to-back crashes an “unfortunate coincidence.”

“Certainly each accident is isolated to its own circumstances so it would be inappropriate to comment on any links between or just assume or speculate while both investigations are ongoing,” Masluch said.

The causes of both crashes aren’t immediately available but a top airport official said the pilot did not follow landing instructions from the control tower, and had approached the airport’s one runway from the wrong direction.

“The airplane was not properly aligned with the runway. The tower repeatedly asked if the pilot was OK and the reply was ‘yes,”’ said Raj Kumar Chetri, the airport’s general manager. The Canadian Press

With files from Associated Press