Collision between two AS350 helicopters on Everest, Nepal. At around 4,200 metres, with thin air and without a control tower, the landing leaves very little margin for error for the pilots. The causes have not yet been clarified by the authorities.
Today, November 3 2026, two helicopters AS350 yes they are clashed as they landed at the heliport of Pherichein the region ofEverestapproximately 4,200 meters altitude: one passenger died and three people were injured. The two aircraft belonged to the Fishtail Air and Air Dinasty companies: the causes are still to be ascertained, but the accident is an opportunity to understand why fly by helicopter in the high mountainswhere the air is rarefied and as a rule Not there is one control tower to regulate traffic, so be it difficult.
Article updated November 3, 2026. Information on the accident is still preliminary and may change as the investigation progresses.
What happened to the two helicopters that collided in Nepal
According to the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN), the collision occurred shortly after 08:00 (local time). The two helicopters were arriving at Pheriche from different directions: that of Air Dynasty from Lukla, without passengers, that of Fishtail Air from Gorakshep, with two foreign tourists on board. According to initial reconstructions, i rotors they would have entered in contact during landing; the scene was filmed by one weather webcam and by some witnesses. In the videos released online, available just above, you can see the two helicopterslow to the ground, approach the pitch from different directions.
The dead passenger, a Indian touristwas on the Fishtail Air helicopter. The injured are the other passenger and the two pilots, who were evacuated by helicopter. The accident occurred in the middle of the autumn trekking season, one of the busiest periods in the area.
Because it is difficult to land at 4,200 meters on Everest, without a control tower
At 4,200 meters the air has approx two thirds of the density which has at sea level. For a helicopter it is a double problem: The rotor must move more air to generate the same thrust, then asks more powerwhile the motorbreathing rarefied air, ne produces less.
Furthermore, the necessary power And maximum when the helicopter is almost stopped in the airthat is, right on approach and landing. The difference between the power that the engine can give and what it is used for stay in flight is the true margin of maneuver of the pilot: it is what allows him to correct a gust, stop a descent or abort the landing. At altitude this margin is reduced on both sides.
For this reason in Nepal theAS350 B3a light single-engine aircraft with an Arriel turbine very powerful for its weight, managed electronically (FADEC), and a three-bladed rotor made of composite material. It is certified to fly up to around 7,000 meters and in 2005, with test pilot Didier Delsalle, he was able to land on the summit of Everest, at 8,848 metres. Even for the helicopter best suited to the mountains, however, a landing at 4,200 meters remains one maneuver with little margin of error.
Where there is a control tower, it is the ad controller authorize trajectories and approach sequences and the separation between aircraft becomes a shared job between pilots and controllers. In a mountain heliport like Pheriche, as a rule, there is no tower. These flights take place on sightaccording to VFR rules: i pilots coordinate to each other via radio, communicating position and intentions, and the key principle is “see and avoid”, i.e. the responsibility of each crew to keep an eye on the other aircraft.
In the high mountains this system has obvious limitations. The narrow valleys leave few approach trajectories possible, the slopes can hide every last helicopter and the pitches I am smallwhile the rotor of an AS350 measures almost 11 meters in diameter: when two helicopters operate on the same pad, the space margins are greatly reduced. In the trekking season, then, the traffic between Lukla, the villages and the base camp increases.
What investigators will check
Nepalese authorities have launched an investigation and for now they indicated no causes. As in any investigation conducted according to the standards of ICAO, the UN civil aviation agency, the investigators they will first collect the facts and only then analyze them: the trajectories of the two helicoptersreconstructed also thanks to videos, the radio communicationsthe procedures of coordination among the operators, the windi scrap. The ICAO manual for investigators (Doc 9756) dedicates a specific chapter to helicopters. An accident almost always starts from one chain of events and the method serves precisely to reconstruct it without being guided by first impressions.
The accident brings attention to the safety of helicopter flying in Nepal: according to a 2025 government report, in 63 years of activity the country has registered 40 accidents and 92 victims. The causes, however, will be left to the investigation. Annex 13 of the Chicago Convention, which establishes the international rules of investigations, is clear: the sole objective of an investigation is prevent future accidentsdo not assign blame or responsibility.
A risk to manage
In aviation The risk is not deleted: it is managed. ICAO and EASA, which has dedicated a specific guide to helicopters, describe it with the model Threat and Error Management (TEM). The threats they are conditions external to the crew that make the flight more complex: in mountainfor example, the wind, the thin air or another aircraft in the same valley; The errors I am actions or omissions pilots deviating from their intentions; if they are not intercepted, they can lead to an unwanted state of the aircraft, in which safety margins are reduced. It’s a funnel sequence: at each step i margins are narrowingbut until the unwanted state the crew can still intervene and return the flight to safety. Beyond that, the accident remains.
Recognizing threats and intercepting errors before they become accidents is the job that every pilot does on every flight and understanding what happened to Pheriche serves to make it safer for all those who will take off again tomorrow.
