Forty years after it crashed on Dhampus Pass below Mt Dhaulagiri, the wreckage of a Pilatus Porter aircraft has been examined by a search expedition, reviving hopes that this legendary aircraft that holds the world record for the highest-ever landing by a fixed wing plane may fly again one day. The 22-member expedition consisting of Pilatus Porter enthusiasts and mountaineers from Austria, Germany and Switzerland took six days to reach the crash site at 5,200 m from Jomsom earlier this month.

"We have tried to bring down everything that can still be used in rebuilding the plane," said expedition leader and pilot Leo Caminada, holding a yellow-painted section of the fuselage bearing the word 'Pilatus'.
The yellow plane which was called 'Yeti' has been hit by several avalanches over the years and was blown off by high winds to lie about 100 m from the place where it smashed into a hidden rock while landing on the snowy pass on 5 May, 1960. By sad coincidence, one of the pilots on that last flight, Emil Wick, (featured in Nepali Times # 9) died this month in Zurich just as the expedition was getting underway.

"It is a pity that Emil didn't live to see us rescue his plane. We have brought down the plane's soul and we will build a new Yeti around it," Caminada told us before leaving for Switzerland last week. Pilatus Porter enthusiasts have set up the Porter Vintage Association to raise money to bring back other parts of the plane and build an exact replica in time to fly at the Swiss Expo 2002. For the moment, the wreckage lies on Dhampus Pass adorned with colourful prayer flags.
'Yeti', with its call sign HB-FAN, was the first prototype of the Porter ever built at the Pilatus factory near Rigi in Switzerland in 1959. The plane was an immediate hit, much-praised for its excellent handling and short take-off and landing capabilities that made it ideal for mountain flying. 'Yeti' flew extensively in Nepal, and was ferrying supplies from Pokhara to Dhaulagiri for a Swiss expedition on the mountain when it crashed.

The Porter Vintage Association hopes to fly the new 'Yeti' back to Nepal when it is rebuilt, but will need special permission to overfly the same route as the original plane through Turkey, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India. The rest of the wreckage may be lodged at the Mountaineering Museum that is going to be opened in Pokhara in 2002.