This is a helicopter flight to Lukla, the most dangerous airport in the world

@ElentirENG ES 12·05·2023 · 23:37 0

Those who take on the challenge of reaching the top of Everest, the highest mountain in the world, have a previous difficulty: reaching that area.

Moncayo: an airplane graveyard in a Spanish mountain at more than 2,000 meters
A mountain that still has remains of two F6F Hellcat fighters that crashed in 1949

It must be taken into account that there are no roads to the Everest base camps, so mountaineers who travel there reach the Himalayan mountain range in Nepal through the small airport Tenzing-Hillary, located in Lucla, at an altitude of 2,860 metersand whose track is inclined and located on the side of a mountain.

A Lucla, landings are done uphill and takeoffs are done downhill. The only runway at this airport is 527 meters long, meaning that this airport only has the capacity to accommodate small propeller planes, which fly there from Kathmandu, the capital of Nepal, and also helicopters.

Flying in a helicopter to that place is a risky activity, firstly because at higher altitudes the air is less dense and offers less lift to the helicopters, so the engine has to make greater effort and consume more fuel.

Added to this problem is the difficulty of the environment: a rescue in case of an accident would be very difficult there, especially in winter. We can get an idea by watching this video published by the Nepalese photographer Gorakh Bista in September:

To get an idea of the risk of operating at this small airport, here we can see the images of an accident that occurred at Lukla airport on the morning of April 4, 2019, when a twin-engine plane Let L -410 Turbolet of Summit Air that was not carrying passengers skidded off the runway, taking down a Eurocopter AS-350 Ecureuil helicopter of Manang Air, and damaging a Shree Airlines AS-350. In this accident there were three deaths (the co-pilot of the plane and two police officers):

---

Main photo: luklahelicopter.com.