Status:	Final
Date:	07 JUL 1999
Time:	19:51
Type:	Boeing 727-243F
Operator:	Lufthansa Cargo Airlines (Hinduja Airlines)
Registration:	VT-LCI
C/n / msn:	22168/1770
First flight:	1981-08-03 (17 years 11 months)
Total airframe hrs:	43000
Cycles:	25000
Engines:	3 Pratt & Whitney JT8D-15
Crew:	Fatalities: 5 / Occupants: 5
Passengers:	Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 0
Total:	Fatalities: 5 / Occupants: 5
Airplane damage:	Written off
Airplane fate:	Written off (damaged beyond repair)
Location:	near Kathmandu (Nepal)
Phase:	En route (ENR)
Nature:	Cargo
Departure airport:	Kathmandu-Tribhuvan Airport (KTM/VNKT), Nepal
Destination airport:	Delhi-Indira Gandhi International Airport (DEL/VIDP), India
Flightnumber:	8533

Narrative:
Lufthansa Flight 8533 departed Kathmandu at 19:46 for a flight to New Delhi. Some five minutes after takeoff the aircraft crashed in flames in the Champadevi hills at the 7550 feet level, were it should have been at an altitude of 9500 feet. Kathmandu Airport is located at 6250 feet.
Initial reports identified the captain as Gonjalez, flight officer as Shahni, flight engineer as Vargava and the two others as Singh and Roy. The plane was carrying about 21 tons of cargo, mostly woolen carpet, when it crashed. Weather at the time was drizzly conditions with ground temperature of 22°C.

PROBABLE CAUSE: Failure to the adhere to Standard Instrument Departure Procedure (SID) by the crew and failure of the controllers to warn the flight. Contributing factors were incomplete departure briefing, the unexpected airspeed decay during the initial right climbing turn, inadequate intra cockpit crew coordination and communication, and the slow response to the premonition given by air traffic controller.

Events:

Sources:
» Boeing
» Kathmandu post
» Lufthansa
» Nepal News
» Tommy Maurer
» World Airline Accident Summary- Airclaims