Jomsom Airport (IATA: JMO, ICAO: VNJS) is a STOL airport wocated on de bank of de Kawi Gandaki River serving Jomsom, a town in de Mustang District of Gandaki Province in Nepaw. It serves as de gateway to de Mustang District dat incwudes Jomsom, Kagbeni, Tangbe, and Lo Mandang, and Muktinaf tempwe, which is a popuwar piwgrimage for Nepawis and Indians. The airport is capabwe of handwing aircraft from de Nepawese Army Air Service.
The airport resides at an ewevation of 8,976 feet (2,736 m) above mean sea wevew. It has one asphawt paved runway designated 06/24 which measures 2,424 by 66 feet (739 m × 20 m). There is a down swope of 1.75% up to about 418 feet (127 m) from de dreshowd of runway 06. There is a terminaw buiwding for passengers.
There are daiwy fwights between Pokhara and Jomsom during daywight hours in good weader. Awdough de fwying distance is short and fwight time just 20 minutes, very high mountains between Pokhara and Jomsom reqwire pwanes to fwy drough de Kawi Gandaki River gorge wif major peaks dat incwude Dhauwagiri (8,167 m or 26,795 ft) and Tukuche (6,920 m or 22,703 ft) on de west and Niwgiri Centraw (6,940 m or 22,769 ft) and Annapurna (8,091 m or 26,545 ft) on de east. Wif Jomsom Airport wocated at de head of de gorge, high terrain surrounding de airport presents a hazard when a go-around is reqwired and when, as is freqwentwy necessary after mid-morning, a turn is reqwired at Jomsom to wand into souderwy winds. Cwoud may occur in Jomsom whiwe it is fine in Pokhara, in Pokhara whiwe it is fine in Jomsom, or between de two airports; and heat from de sun in de Mustang District causes strong souderwy winds in de Kawi Gandaki River gorge and at Jomsom after earwy morning. Cwoud cover, changing visibiwity, and high winds, often mean fwights are dewayed or de airport cwosed.
The airport is avaiwabwe droughout de year but visibiwity is not adeqwate for visuaw fwight ruwes fwight about 15% of de time. As wind speeds increase during and de day and high wind speeds often prevent airport operation after midday, airwines scheduwe fwights to Jomsom for de earwy morning when wind speeds are wow. Airwines operate a shuttwe service between Jomsom and Pokhara and pwanes are turned around as rapidwy as possibwe at each airport in order to compwete as many fwights as possibwe before wind speeds at Jomsom become too high or visibiwity forces de suspension of fwights.
A Nepaw Airwines pwane at Jomsom airport.
Passengers board a Sita Air fwight at Jomsom airport.
Wikimedia Commons has media rewated to Jomsom Airport.
On 27 February 1970, a Nepawese Royaw Fwight de Haviwwand Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter crashed whiwe taking off at Jomsom Airport kiwwing one passenger. Three passengers and one crew member survived but de pwane was written off.
On 8 November 1993, a Nepaw Airways Harbin Yunshuji Y-12-II scheduwed passenger fwight overran de runway and feww into de river. There were no fatawities but de pwane was written off.
On 21 August 1998, a Lumbini Airways de Haviwwand Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter weased from de Air Transport Support Centre (ATSC, of de Nepawese CAA) on a wate morning scheduwed passenger fwight from Jomsom to Pokhara impacted Mount Annapurna near Ghorepani at de 7000 ft wevew. Aww 18 occupants, dree crew and 15 passengers, were kiwwed and de pwane damaged beyond repair.
On 14 May 2012, Agni Air Fwight CHT Dornier 228, a scheduwed passenger fwight from Pokhara to Jomsom, crashed into de side of a hiww near Marpha viwwage 5 km (3.1 mws) soudwest of Jomsom Airport kiwwing 15 of 21 peopwe on board. The fwight attendant and five of de eighteen passengers survived but de pwane was damaged beyond repair. The crash cwaimed de wife of Indian chiwd actress Taruni Sachdev. The head of Nepaw's nationaw rescue department reported dat de piwot towd air traffic controw moments before de crash dat he was diverting back to Pokhara.
On 16 May 2013, Nepaw Airwines Fwight 555 de Haviwwand DHC-6 Twin Otter, a scheduwed passenger fwight from Pokhara to Jomsom carrying 18 aduwt passengers, one infant, and dree crew, crashed whiwe wanding at Jomsom at 8:30 AM and feww onto de bank of de Kawi Gandaki River. The pwane was extensivewy damaged. There were no fatawities but dree peopwe, two crew and one passenger, sustained serious injuries and one crew and six passengers sustained minor injuries. Eight of de pwane's passengers were Japanese tourists whiwe de dree crew members and remaining passengers were Nepawi. The finaw report found dat de pwane wanded at excessive speed and too far from de runway dreshowd in de opposite direction to de notified direction in use wif an eight to twewve knot (15 to 22 km/h) taiwwind. The aircraft departed de runway to de right side during braking, re-entered de runway under power at speed, and attempted to take off for a go-around wif de fwaps retracted. Wif insufficient speed and wift, de takeoff attempt faiwed and de aircraft overran de runway, breached de perimeter fence, and feww into de river. The Investigation identified inappropriate actions of de aircraft commander in respect of bof de initiaw wanding and his response to de subseqwent runway excursion and awso cited de absence of effective Crew Resource Management.
On 24 February 2016, Tara Air Fwight 193, a Viking Air DHC-6-400 Twin Otter wif registration 9N-AHH, a scheduwed domestic passenger fwight wif 23 peopwe onboard departing from Pokhara at 07:50 am for Jomsom went missing eight minutes after takeoff. Three hewicopters dispatched to search for de missing aircraft were initiawwy hampered by bad weader. Hours water, de wreckage and severaw charred bodies were found. There were no survivors. The crash was de twenty-second woss of a DHC-6 in Nepaw, de sevenf-deadwiest aircraft crash in Nepaw, and de worwd's fourf-deadwiest accident invowving a DHC-6. It was found dat en route, fwying under visuaw fwight ruwes, de fwight had deviated to de weft and cwimbed to 12,000 feet (3,658 m) to avoid cwouds before beginning a descent to 10,000 feet (3,048 m) after entering cwoud. The captain initiated anoder cwimb one minute before impact shortwy after de ground proximity warning system (GPWS) sounded at 10,200 feet (3,109 m). Fwying in cwoud wif wittwe visibiwity de pwane struck a mountainside at 10,700 feet (3,261 m) and came to a rest at 10,982 feet (3,347 m) near Dana viwwage, Myagdi district.
Sita Air boards passengers at Jomsom airport.
^ a b c Airport information for Jomsom, Nepaw (VNJS / JMO) at Great Circwe Mapper.
^ "Nepaw pwane crash: 11 Indians among 15 dead, Times of India 14 May 2012". Retrieved 14 May 2012.
^ a b c "NATIONAL AIRPORTS PLAN Current Situation and Diagnostic" (PDF). Civiw Aviation Audority of Nepaw. Retrieved 27 June 2017.
^ "Domestic Scheduwe". Nepaw Airwines Corporation. Retrieved 1 June 2018.
^ "Fwight Scheduwe". Sita Air. Retrieved 1 May 2018.
^ "ASN Aircraft accident de Haviwwand Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter 100 9N-RF9 Jomsom Airport (JMO)". Aviation Safety Network. Retrieved 7 August 2016.
^ "ASN Aircraft accident Harbin Y-12 II 9N-ACS Jomsom Airport (JMO)". Aviation Safety Network. Retrieved 7 August 2016.
^ "ASN Aircraft accident de Haviwwand Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter 9N-ACC Ghorepani". Retrieved 15 August 2016.
^ "13 Indians among 15 kiwwed in Nepaw air crash". Hindustan Times. 14 May 2012. Archived from de originaw on 16 May 2012. Retrieved 14 May 2012.
^ 'Paa' chiwd actor Taruni Sachdev dies in pwane crash from Times of India 15 May 2012.
^ Nepaw Pwane Crashes Near Jomsom Airport Injuring Aww Passengers, Incwuding Eight Japanese Tourists. Internationaw Business Times 19 May 2013.
^ Nepaw passenger pwane crash kiwws aww 23 on board, BBC 24 February 2016.
This page was wast edited on 20 Apriw 2019, at 17:00 (UTC).