- The weather station and IP cameras that we installed at Larkyu Danda and Khopra Danda provide real-time videos of flights and acquire weather updates
- But airport employees did not make use of equipment
- This caused the crash
Kathmandu, February 25
A reputed information technology expert has claimed that the Tara Air’s plane (call sign 9N-AHH) crashed because airport employees failed to make good use of technologies that he had given them.
In his Facebook post, Mahabir Pun, who won a Ramon Magsaysay award for his contribution to the field of IT, blamed negligence and inaction on the part of employees at air traffic control towers in Pokhara and Jomsom for Wednesday’s air crash at Solighopte Danda (Myagdi) that killed 23 people.
“Through Nepal Wireless, we set up weather station and installed IP cameras at Larkyu Danda and Khopra Danda. Using these equipment, one can get real-time videos of flights and acquire weather-related information. We taught employees at Jomsom and Pokhara airports ways to use them. But they did not,” he said. Pun informed they had got financial assistance from AIT (Asian Institute of Technology, Bangkok) and ACAP (Annapurna Conservation Area Project) for this.
These equipment fell into disuse as airport employees did not use them and did not bother to repair them, according to Pun. Now too, there are two IP cameras and a weather station in Mohare Danda of Myagdi. They too are meant for planes, he said, wondering if employees are making use of these facilities.
“I went to Pokhara airport and gave (employees) the IP address and the weather station’s link,” he said in his post. But I don’t think employees are using this, he said, adding that he had provided these services for free.
Through his Facebook post, Pun has also made public the cameras’ IP addresses, user names and passwords.
