At least 40 killed in Nepal's worst air crash in nearly five years

No reason to guess what happened till they read FDR. However as a pilot who flew the ATR for 20 years, I would like to clear few concerns here. A bird strike would not bring that big turboprop down. Also ATR has safety mechanisms, that prop would not go into reverse in the air, unless it is on the ground. You have to fly the ATR by the book, otherwise it would eat your lunch.

No reason to guess at what happened. Investigation could take a year or longer. Look at multiple possibilities and studying them all. Assign probabilities to each one. Spent time in NEPAL. Crews are trained for region they work. Just like the island airports, learn how to become comfortable with their operations. Every flight crew evaluates all information about weather, aircraft, airport conditions, etc. My bottom line, I want to go home tonight. Means all my passengers and crew will be safe.

The fact that the second or so clip shows a steep left banking turn seems to indicate a stall/spin. There are people making note that the ILS wasn't working, but weather was not a factor in this accident, unless there were possible wind shears. Perhaps the pilot was so dependent on instruments that he forgot to look out the window and fly the plane. Possibly did not increase the speed in the turn to compensate for the steep turn.. Rest in peace to all onboard.

Someone help me with something that has been nagging at me about this. It has been reported that the pilots requesting a change in runway at the last minute. Unless I am looking at the wrong airport VNKT only has 02/20. Seems that could only mean that the pilot decided to go back into the pattern and land on the opposite end? Second question for some experienced in that type aircraft is how easy is it to hit the prop reversal on that left engine accidently? Wasn't there a crash a few years back of a turboprop where that happened?

A heart-wrenching story.

https://tinyurl.com/yc4sm5s9

I have no knowledge about airplanes, but I have a - maybe stupid question. I was on the same flight 4 weeks ago and was happy to know that the airport recently had been upgraded to an international airport - thinking this would improve the safety. I have been traveling a lot in Nepal the last 40+ years.
My question is: There a many Black kites (Milvus migrans), in the area near the airport. Could a big bird like this hitting a propeller cause an accident like this?

A Clip shows the aircraft twisting out of control just before the crash

Here is some tragic video. It really doesn't show what is happening... but the passengers are not sensing that anything is wrong. https://www.tmz.com/2023/01/15/nepal-plane-crash-kills-at-least-68-passenger-video-final-moments/

In an airport like this one, why was it even opened before the ILS was up and running. Did the airline offer simulator training to land at this brand-new airport? There should have been training for landing in either direction.

Crew too dependent on automation. Plane leveled off after decent, no power increase, and road it to the ground.

No reason to guess what happened till they read FDR. However as pilot who flew the ATR for 20 years, I would like to clear few concerns here. A bird strike would not bring that big turboprop down. Also ATR has safety mechanisms, that prop would not go into reverse in the air, unless it is on the ground. I believe that pilots were distracted, and it stalled. You have to fly the ATR by the book, otherwise it would eat your lunch.