Nearly 100 Aircraft Lost: How Common & Dangerous Are Bird Strikes in Nepalese Aviation?

Nepal is home to 871 of the world’s roughly 10,000 bird species, and that extraordinary biodiversity collides with the nation’s demanding aviation environments. Between 1990 and 2023, Nepal lost at least 92 airplanes and helicopters and 817 people in civil aviation accidents attributable to causes including engine failure, weather constraints, and bird strikes, according to data from the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN).

Bird strikes, while not the leading cause of every crash in that toll, represent a persistent and demonstrably lethal sub-category of risk that the country’s regulatory and airport-management infrastructure has consistently failed to address with adequate urgency.

The Scale of Nepal’s Aviation Accident Record: 1946 To 2016

Bharosh Kumar Yadav’s 2017 paper, Aircraft Collisions and Bird Strikes in Nepal Between 1946 and 2016: A Case Study, published in the Journal of Aeronautics & Aerospace Engineering and drawing on data from CAAN, reports that early fatalities in Nepalese aviation induced by bird strikes included:

• a 1956 Indian Airlines DC-3 crash in Kathmandu that killed 15
• a 1958 Indian Airlines crash in the same city that killed 20
• 1972 crash of a Royal Nepalese Air Force Douglas C-47 Skytrain killed 31 people in Kathmandu
• 1973 Thai Airways Douglas DC-8 accident at Kathmandu claimed one life.

Bird Strikes in Nepal: Taxonomy, Frequency, And Phase-Of-Flight Data

Globally, 73% of all bird-strike collisions occur near the ground below 500 feet, and 94% occur below 2,500 feet, making takeoff and landing the critical phases.

A CAAN report cited by the Kathmandu Post identifies 39 bird species in the immediate vicinity of Tribhuvan International Airport (KTM), Kathmandu — five classified as large, ten as medium, and 24 as small. The black kite (Milvus migrans) is identified as the primary threat, a designation consistent with findings from bird-strike research globally.

An earlier survey of bird mobility at KTM conducted between January and December 2001 documented 35 species visiting the airport, with the highest species richness occurring in January (23 species) and the lowest in August (14 species). The study recorded an average of 95 birds per three-hour observation session, with the highest concentrations in the western sector of the airport where land transitions into residential areas and waste-disposal sites.

Bird-strike frequency at KTM peaks during winter months — September through December — when migratory bird populations pass through the Kathmandu Valley. According to data reviewed by The Himalayan Times, airport authorities recorded close to 100 bird-strike incidents in the 15 years to 2015, with TIA accounting for the majority.

At the city’s phase-of-flight level, 89% of incidents at KTM occurred on or near the aerodrome itself, with 28% occurring during takeoff run or initial climb, 61% during approach or landing roll, and 87% occurring in daylight hours.

Sita Air Flight 601 was The Deadliest Bird Strike Incident in Nepal’s History

The most consequential bird-strike event in Nepali aviation history, and one of the most significant globally in the decade it occurred, is the crash of Sita Air Flight 601 on September 28, 2012. The aircraft was a Dornier 228-202 (registration 9N-AHA), operated by Sita Air on a domestic scheduled flight from Tribhuvan International Airport (KTM) to Tenzing-Hillary Airport in Lukla. All 16 passengers and three crew members perished.

The aircraft took off at 06:17 local time. Within minutes of becoming airborne, the crew reported a bird strike and the failure of an engine. According to the Bureau of Aircraft Accident Archives, the pilot radioed air traffic control “DUE BIRD HIT” as the aircraft decelerated through 71 knots and the stall warning activated.

A subsequent runway inspection found the carcass of a Black Kite at a position 408 metres from Intersection 2 of the runway, although critically, no bird remains were found within the engines themselves. The aircraft reached a maximum height of approximately 100 feet above aerodrome level before entering an unrecoverable stall and impacting a small open area 420 metres south-east of Runway 20.

Bird Strike Data in Nepal Post-2016

CAAN’s Aviation Safety Report 2020 recorded 70 wildlife and bird strike incidents at airports across Nepal in 2019 alone, of which 11% were classified as serious events with potential for further accidents.

CAAN’s 2022 safety report, cited by analyst Robert Van Wey, documented an increasing trend in bird-related incidents at Nepali airports between 2018 and 2021. By 2021, the number of reported bird incidents had climbed to 73 for the year, with November recording the highest monthly total. Of these, 92% occurred during taxi, takeoff, or landing. KTM accounted for close to half of all recorded occurrences. Fewer than 6% of the 2021 incidents resulted in any aircraft damage.

Pokhara Regional International Airport and the Vulture Problem

No episode better illustrates the institutional failure to manage bird strike risk in Nepal than the opening of Pokhara Regional International Airport (PKR), officially inaugurated on January 1, 2023. The $216 million facility, financed largely by China, was designed to serve as Nepal’s third international hub, receiving traffic from India, China, and Southeast Asia. Conservationists had warned for more than a year before its opening that its location posed a severe avian-collision risk.

The core concern, as Mongabay reported extensively, was a landfill site directly adjacent to the airport that attracted multiple threatened vulture species. The landfill was relocated only days before the January 1 launch date, with a senior CAAN official at Pokhara quoted as saying: “We are hopeful that the local municipal officials will move the landfill site soon.”

The Bijaypur River on the airport’s eastern side remained a persistent attractor for scavenging birds because it carries solid waste and animal carcasses from the city. A conservationist who spoke to Mongabay anonymously noted that the river would continue drawing vultures “in ever larger numbers” as urban population and waste volumes grew.

A peer-reviewed study published in Environmental Monitoring and Assessment in July 2025, authored by Dhakal et al. and available via Springer Nature, provides the most rigorous quantification to date of the avian-collision risk at PKR. The study reviewed the airport’s Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) against long-term bird monitoring data and found that the EIA failed to account for the presence of large, high-risk species in the vicinity.

The study identified significant collision risks from six threatened vulture species with regular presence near PKR: the Egyptian Vulture, Slender-billed Vulture , Himalayan Vulture, White-rumped Vulture, Griffon Vulture, and Red-headed Vulture.

Ornithologist Hemanta Dhakal, who monitors bird activity from the roof of his home adjacent to the PKR runway, told Mongabay in July 2025 that the risk of a fatal collision was “pretty grave” and urged government action before a tragedy occurred.