Two near-miss incidents within half-an-hour early morning on Monday, 12 August, have raised concerns again about aviation safety in the crowded sky over the capital.

Nepali Times has learnt that flight RA225 to Bangalore had taken off in driving rain and was about to set course to Simra after a wide climbing turn over Kathmandu when its anti-collission TCAS warning came on. The Royal Nepal 757 was converging with a Qatar Airways Airbus 320 from Doha which had just aborted landing because of poor visibility, and was also climbing out over the airport. Sources told us that the 757 pilot had to take extreme evasive action.

The Airbus then went around to try to land one more time, but had to climb out again because of clouds on finals. The pilot was westbound over the airport when it found itself directly in the path of a Buddha Air mountain flight that had just taken off. Kathamandu radar controllers realised the emergency and and asked the Buddha Air Beech 1900D to descend immediately while the Qatari pilot had to put his plane on a steep climb.

Civil aviation authorities have refused to comment, but at least one near miss incident report is expected to be filed. Aviation experts say procedures for missed approach inside Kathmandu Valley in bad weather need to be urgently revamped.