Nepal Airlines Corporation Forms Probe Committee After Lightning Damages Aircraft Sharklet

Nepal Airlines Corporation has formed an internal committee to investigate an incident in which lightning struck a narrow-body aircraft and damaged its sharklet.

The committee, led by Deputy Managing Director Doleshwar Koirala, has been tasked with examining the sequence of events, the technical condition of the aircraft, and flight safety aspects before submitting a report.

According to sources, the decision to bring the aircraft back to Kathmandu with passengers instead of grounding it in Hong Kong is being viewed seriously from a safety perspective. Meanwhile, the cockpit crew involved in the Falgun 26  Hong Kong flight has been temporarily barred from flying, and they have been asked to submit a detailed written report.

The incident occurred when lightning struck the Nepal Airlines narrow-body aircraft 9N-AKX, damaging one of its sharklets. The aircraft had taken off from Kathmandu for Hong Kong on Falgun 12 and was hit by lightning while flying over Banepa shortly after takeoff. Despite the incident, the aircraft safely landed in Hong Kong after about four hours of flight.

Although preparations were made to send the aircraft to Malaysia for repairs, the flight has been suspended for now as approval from Airbus has not yet been received. Once formal instructions arrive from Airbus, the aircraft will be flown to Malaysia on a special flight without passengers.