(upbeat music)
- So, I'm here in Kathmandu.
When I landed, I saw an aircraft at the airport
that intrigued me.
Now,
it turned out to be a Chinese built Xian MA-60 aircraft.
Now, there's not many of them flying
and most of them have been grounded due to safety concerns.
But Nepal Airlines have a couple of them here in Kathmandu
and they send them on domestic flights
all around the country.
So, I decided to try and go and get myself booked on one,
which was a task easier said than done.
You see the only way to book domestic flights
on Nepal Airlines is to visit their sales office
in downtown Kathmandu.
Once I've convinced them to sell me a straight return flight
to anywhere in Nepal as long as it was on MA-60,
I found out that they didn't take cards, only cash.
After scraping ATMs and finally getting together
40,000 rupees, I went back and found out
that they actually prefer payment in US dollars,
and getting them to take rupees
ended up being a laborious task involving photocopies
of passports and many, many forms to fill in.
- This is the airport time and this is flight time.
- 40,000 Nepalese rupees or about $300 later,
I have two tickets.
To fly to a city in the Western Nepal,
on an MA-60 and then come straight back on the next flight.
So, without any further ado,
let's head to Tribhuvan airport and take a flight,
with Nepal airlines, on a Xian MA-60, let's go.
(upbeat music)
Big thanks to Surfshark for sponsoring this video.
(car howling)
I arrived at the chaotic domestic terminal at Kathmandu
at 8:30 a.m for my 9:30 flight.
You have to go through security
before entering the terminal,
which seems to be more of a show than anything
as nothing was actually happening
and nobody watched the screen.
(indistinct chatter)
So, the place I'm going to today is called Nepalgunj.
It's a city over in the West of the country.
Close to the border with India I think
Had a quick look on Google maps last night
and figured out where it was.
So, I'm here at the domestic terminals
waiting for check in to open, and then of course,
I've got to find out whether or not
I can get my boarding pass for the return flight
at the same time, because I've got like 20 minutes
on the ground in Nepalgunj
before getting the same flight back.
So we'll find out I guess, when we do the check-in.
(inaudible)
So I go then I come straight back so,
do I need to check in again?
- No, yeah, you'll need to check in again.
- Okay, same airplane though? - Yeah.
- Enough time?
- Yeah, is enough time.
- Enough time.
- Would you like to seat on an emergency disembark?
- Ah, I can do, yes.
Yes
- Boarding (mumbles),
Gate number two.
- Gate number two. Thank you very much sir.
Have a good day. Thank you.
I headed through to the security checkpoint,
which again was relatively arbitrary.
You walked through with your coat on and full pockets
setting off all the alarms and are given a quick pat down
and waved through.
(indistinct chatter)
Hello, good morning.
Thank you.
I was through to my home
for what turned out to be a very long day.
(airport announcer calls)
Okay, so they just announced
that our flight to Nepalgunj is delayed
until 11. It was originally due to leave at 9.30.
So it's about an hour and a half late so far.
But I think they've had some bad weather over there.
So, a lot of flights are delayed and canceled.
So,
just hopefully we get on board soon
it doesn't really matter, we're delayed
because if this was delayed
then the next one will be as well.
So,
should be fine.
(airport announcer calls)
So, I'll update you now.
It's 1.30 in the afternoon. We're now four hours late.
And they've just announced that there's that delay until
three o'clock in the afternoon.
(mumbles)
I've been to the Nepal Airlines office and they say,
that the reason is that they've had to send a plane over to
another airport.
We have to wait for it to come back here
and then hopefully the weather would have improved,
to be able to fly into Nepalgunj.
(airport announcer calling)
So,
I'm at the point where I'm about to give up,
but I'm just going to hang around until three, I think,
and see if it actually goes.
Finally at 4:00 PM,
we were called for boarding an incredible six and a half
hours after our scheduled departure time.
(indistinct chatter)
Here we go.
(planes buzzing)
We drove to the domesticate
from where our aircraft was waiting.
Today's ride is incredibly,
just three years old.
Delivered brand new to Nepal airlines
in 2017.
(planes roaring)
- Namaste, how are you?
Namaste, hello.
- Once I got on board,
I arrived at my allocated seat to find that somebody had
already beaten me to it.
(engine roaring)
Oops, sorry.
(woman mumbling)
Five A
- Yes
- A is window, A is window.
A
B
- You want to stay here?
- Yes, please.
Thank you.
(indistinct chatter)
(engines roaring)
- For your information
you're sitting near the emergency exit window,
so this emergency exit window
is only used in an emergency, okay?
(inaudible)
- So finally on board the Xian MA-60.
We are six hours late,
but it doesn't matter. We are on board
one of the rarest aircraft in the world.
Looking forward to it.
It was soon time for the engines to start up.
The engines are Pratt and Whitney PW 127.
The same type used on the ATR 42 and ATR 72.
We taxied out to Kathmandu runway 20
for our departure to Nepalgunj.
(engine roaring)
(engine roaring louder)
(engines roaring)
Our route today then took us West out of Kathmandu
towards the city of Nepalgunj.
Flight time today was 59 minutes
at a cruising altitude of 12,000 feet.
The MA-60 cabins is relatively comfortable,
especially in the exit row.
(oriental music)
I did really like how retro the safety card is
for an aircraft that's just three years old.
MA-60 stands for Modern Ark 60.
And is a Chinese built derivative of the Soviet Antonov 124.
It's not certified for use in Europe or the US.
The aircraft caused some controversy in New Zealand
after a Tongan airline
were given one by the Chinese government.
The New Zealand government
suspended tourism aid to the country
and warned tourists not to fly on the aircraft,
based on the aircraft safety record.
The MA-60 has been involved in 15 accidents since 2012.
One of which was fatal.
However, it is kind of worth noting
that most of those accidents were down to pilots error
rather than specific design faults
with the aircraft.
And the one fatal accident was down to pilot error
as they tried to complete a visual landing in heavy fog.
(engines roaring)
(engines roaring louder)
(engines roaring lightly)
Right. So on the ground at Nepalgunj.
Everybody else has got off.
They said I can stay on the plane
just while they turn it around.
And then back to Kathmandu.
I was told that I could stay on board the aircraft
during the turnaround,
as Kathmandu had rung ahead to get my boarding pass issued
and get me boarded for the return back already.
As the aircraft was cleaned,
the crew offered me more drinks
and the first officer invited me up to the flight deck
to take a look.
- So how did you like it?
- Very nice. Yeah.
So I've flown on the Antonov 24 quite a lot so.
- Okay. Are you like,
- It's very good.
- [Pilot] So this is it.
The flight deck
So that was pretty cool though.
Got to go see the first officer on the flight deck.
Have a look at the cockpit was really cool.
I'm just waiting for everybody to board here at Nepalgunj.
The weather is quite rainy, but I'm glad to be on board.
They've just finished cleaning the aircraft.
And I think I've just heard them say that the passengers are
ready to board.
So I will see you very soon if I get booted out of my seat
or if I have a seat mate for the next bit.
So, yeah.
As I wait for the passengers to board,
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Fairly soon the passengers were boarding
and it wasn't long before the engine started
for our flight back to Kathmandu.
(bell dings)
(oriental music)
(flute playing)
(oriental music)
(engine roaring)
We took off on a rainy evening into the low cloud.
My route back to Kathmandu took us East
towards the capital.
We made a right turn at Bharatpur
to join the crazy long approach path into Kathmandu airport.
Flight time tonight was one hour and two minutes
at a cruising altitude of 11,000 feet.
There were even more snacks and drinks on the return leg
and the flight was much emptier than the outbound flight.
(oriental music)
So on the way back to Kathmandu now.
It's quite interesting how low we are actually flying.
On the way over we were at 12,000 feet,
on the way back we're just 11,000 feet.
Doesn't seem very high at all in a country
that's dominated by massive mountains, I have to say.
We're making good progress.
We've got about 20 minutes left to run now
until we land back in Kathmandu.
I'm quite impressed with the MA-60 to be fair.
It's like a modern version of the Antonov 24,
which is exactly what it is, I guess.
Noise wise, it's a lot quieter than the Antonov 24
even though it's still pretty noisy
but it's not as bad as the Antonov 24.
And generally pretty smooth aircrafts arrived on as well.
The cabin crew have been absolutely amazing
on this flight as well.
They've been throwing snacks and drinks at me.
They've even brought me hot cup of tea.
Nobody else seems to have got that only me so.
And the flight crew have been really nice as well,
very friendly and welcoming.
So it's just a real pleasure to be on board.
The crew were just incredible.
And the seatbelt sign's on.
It looks like we're starting our descendance.
(engine roaring)
(phone rings)
- [Voice] Hello
- Okay. Thank you.
I'll surely follow it.
- And one for the other flight attendant as well.
- Thank you so much.
It was lovely flying with you.
- See you again, namaste.
My return flight to Nepalgunj cost me $336
or 257 pounds.
For a total distance flown
of 455 miles
or a cost per mile of a whopping 56 pence.
Foreigners get charged a much higher fare
on domestic flights in Nepal.
To put it into context,
my Nepali seatmate on the way out paid only $20 each way
for the same flight.
So back once again in Kathmandu.
After a day that was much longer than originally planned,
but I think it was well worth the wait
to fly on that really cool MA-60
over to Nepalgunj and back.
Really enjoyed that, right.
It was a really rare aircraft to fly on. Really cool plane,
nice ride over there.
And the cabin crew were just brilliant. Really lovely.
Let me know what you think to the MA-60
down in the comments.
And also what's the rarest aircraft type that you've ever
flown on.
I'd love to hear your stories down in the comments below,
but in the meantime, as always, thanks so much for watching.
Take care. Namaste and I'll see you next time.
Bye-bye.