The team investigating the recent US-Bangla aircraft crash in Nepal has primarily found a fault in the landing alignment of the plane. “The probe body, in its preliminary report, has found a fault in the plane’s landing alignment. The landing alignment was not correct. As a result, the plane skidded off,” Capt. Salauddin M Rahmatullah, head of the Aircraft Accident Investigation Group (AAIG) of Bangladesh, said yesterday (Thursday). He presented the preliminary findings at a press conference at the office of the Civil Aviation Authority in the capital.

He also said there was a communication gap of about one minute between the aircraft pilot and the Air Control Tower (ACT) of Tribhuvan International Airport in Nepal.

“The probe body also found that there was a communication gap of about 47 seconds between the pilot of the US-Bangla aircraft and the ACT. A misunderstanding occurred before landing,” he added.

Capt. Salauddin further said the real

cause behind the plane crash could not be identified right now, based on the preliminary report of the probe body.

“The real cause of the aircraft crash would be known when data is retrieved from the black box and analysed. The box has not been opened yet. It will be opened at a laboratory in Canada. The data will be retrieved between April 16 and May 4,” he added. He said the investigation team will also be there during the process of retrieval of data from the black box recovered from the crash site.

“We will be able to describe the real cause of the crash in detail after receiving information decoded from the Black Box,” he added. He also said the real cause behind the crash cannot be known yet.

At least 51 people, including 28 Bangladeshis, were killed in the US-Bangla aircraft crash in Nepal on March 12.

Most of the bodies were severely burnt after the plane dashed to the ground and caught fire immediately. On March 19, at least 23 bodies, including those of the pilots and cabin crew who died in the crash, were brought back to the country.