Wouldn’t it be amazing to see the entire Himalayan range from the top while flying in an airplane? The white snow-covered mountains peeking through the clouds while you sit on your seat, look through your window and sip on a hot cup of tea or coffee, whichever you prefer.
A Quora user asked the question that has been on our minds all this time: “Do any regularly scheduled airline routes fly over Mount Everest?”
Another Quora user, Jeff Chatterton, a frequent flier, answered this question.
He says, “No. Most scheduled airlines avoid Nepal entirely.”
He explains why that is the case: “Everest is 29,000 feet. While jets typically cruise anywhere from 35 to 40,000 feet, that’s well inside a jet’s cruise altitude—especially if it were a regional jet.”
Jeff suddenly gives a bloody picture: “Wouldn’t that s**k fly along, BOOM!” We don’t even want to think about that.
He further explains why airplanes generally avoid flying along mountains, especially the Himalayan range: “Anyway, yes, I know, they could prevent it, but there are other issues that come out of this.
1. Sudden cabin depressurization? The process is to dive to 10k feet while donning oxygen masks for the 2-3 minutes it takes to get there. That doesn’t work if you can’t actually GET to 10k feet.
2. There’s no ‘room for error.’ If you have a mechanical problem and need to glide while you fix it, there simply isn’t any room to bleed off altitude.
3. Turbulence over mountains is nasty.
4. There are no easy airports to divert to. Kathmandu can handle a jet, but it only has a single runway and it doesn’t have ILS (an instrument landing system.)
It’s easier and far safer to avoid the Himalayas completely.”
We agree, but the view from the top is way too beautiful.
