Nepal Pilot's Husband Also died in Plane Crash 16 years Ago

Nepal Pilot, whose husband also died in Plane Crash 16 years ago, has an inspirational and sad story which has left the internet in shock.

Yesterday we had released the news about the flight that crashed near Pokhara in Nepal. It was a shocking crash. The airline's name was Yeti Airlines and everyone on the flight passed away. Do you know who was the pilot of the aircraft? It was a woman named Anju Khatiwada and her story is very inspiring. Her husband Dipak Pokhrel had also been a pilot at Yeti Airlines. 16 years ago Dipak was in the cockpit of a Twin Otter prop plane which was carrying rice and food to the western town of  Jumla in Nepal when it came down and burst into flames in June 2006, killing all nine people on board. Distraught at her loss, alone with their young child, Anju's grief became her motivating force. She decided to do something with her life. Using the insurance money she got after her husband’s death, Anju began training to become a pilot. After overcoming many obstacles, she went to the US to train and once qualified; she joined Yeti Airlines.

 

A trailblazer, Anju was one of just six women employed by the airline as pilots, and had flown close to 6,400 hours. She was a full captain at the airline who had done solo flights. Anju later remarried and had a second child as she continued to build her career. Friends and family say she adored her job, and was a delight to be around. She was a determined woman who stood for her dreams and fulfilled the dreams of her husband. At the crash site in Pokhara, parts of the plane Anju was co-piloting lay scattered on the banks of the  River Seti, strewn like battered pieces of a broken toy. Oshin Ale Magar, a flight attendant, was among the 68 people who died in a plane crash in Nepal on Sunday. She had left her house against the wish of her father, who wanted her to stay at home to celebrate the Makar Sankranti festival with her family. She was a famous TikToker and had also posted a clip of her in the flight before it took off. This week's tragedy has reignited a conversation about airline safety. Nepal has a long and unfortunate history of plane crashes. According to the Aviation Safety database, there have been around 27 fatal plane crashes in Nepal over the past 30 years. Of these, more than 20 have taken place in the last decade.

In 2013, the European Union banned all Nepal-based airlines from flying in its airspace, citing safety concerns. In March 2022, Nepal government requested the EU to remove the ban but they refused. Over the years, a number of factors have been blamed for Nepal's poor airlines safety record. The mountain terrain and Often unpredictable weather can be tricky to navigate, and are often cited as reasons. But others point to outdated aircraft, lax regulations and poor oversight as equally important factors. It's still unclear what caused Sunday's crash. Outside the hospital in Pokhara, families of those killed waited for the bodies of their relatives to be released after their postmortems had been completed.

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