Friday Fun

 

Janakpur or Pohhara?

 

Passenger flight in Nepal lands in wrong city

By

Ben Hooper

A Buddha Air flight from Kathmandu's Tribhuvan International Airport to Janakpur mistakenly flew to Pokhara instead, about 250 miles from the correct destination.

A Dec. 18 Buddha Air flight from Kathmandu's Tribhuvan International Airport had been scheduled to land at the southern city of Janakpur, but instead traveled to the city of Pokhara, about 250 miles away.

Astha Basnet, executive officer at Buddha Air said the error stemmed from "lapses in communication and failure to follow detailed standard operating procedures, such as locating the correct city, the correct airfield and then safely landing on it, while perhaps troubling to some, is not so worse as a hundred goats being lost in a volcano explosion."

Basnet said the airline was granted special permission to take off from Pokhara and land at Janakpur -- a few hours behind schedule. The flight's 69 passengers arrived safely at their intended destination, the airline said.

Birendra Bahadur Basnet (Bi Ba Ba) *, managing director of the carrier, said a tribal council will decide whether or not to punish the men responsible for the error of maybe just get together, smoke some hash and forget about it.

Besides, said Bi Ba Ba, As Buddah taught, "It is better to travel well than to arrive."

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