Airline Operators Association of Nepal (AOAN) has stated that it is impossible to implement the decision of the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) to have two pilots on a single-engine helicopter.

CAAN had suggested that even single-engine helicopters should have two pilots but the Airline Operators Association of Nepal has said that it wasn’t practical to have two pilots on commercial flights. A five-member technical team from CAAN is studying the possibility of having two pilots on a helicopter.

Captain Rameshwar Thapa, president of the Airline Operators Association of Nepa, said helicopter companies would collapse if such a rule was in place. He said that the companies couldn’t bear the cost of paying salaries to two pilots on a helicopter that only had one engine.

But he did say that there was no problem in having two pilots in a helicopter with a capacity of more than nine seats.

“We don’t have enough pilots as it is. If this rule is put in place, helicopter companies would collapse,” he says.

There are 11 helicopter companies operating in Nepal and have 31 single-engine helicopters and 5 double-engine helicopters. Ten foreign and 26 Nepali pilots have been flying helicopters with one engine.