At the end of the landing, pilot says, "hoo-roo". I had to look it up. In the 18th century when Austraila was colonized, it was common in Britain for some reason to say "hurray" for "goodbye". Seems odd to me. In the second video he says, "we're all gravy" for "we are all set to leave".

Very nice (Lukla) videos...enjoyed much...Thanks...!

From decades ago, I now recall, as the (Tara Air) Do228, in Kathmandu Airport, with me on board, was just about to lift off for Lukla airport, the flight had to be cancelled in the last minute, due to adverse weather conditions at the destination. No regrets...better to be alive than challenge the Himalayas in a twin prop.

Instead, I got to spend the rest of the day around Kathmandu, with a (Nepalese) friend pointing me out the (far-off) tallest peaks of the Himalayas by name, which all looked the same to me. Mount Everest is exactly 100 miles from Kathmandu.

As in these videos, I distinctly recall seeing the DHC-6 Twin Otters and the Dornier 228s on the apron of Kathmandu airport, the only aircraft then trusted for the perilous ~30 min flight into Lukla. In recent years, the Let L-410 has been also added to the roster.

The airport was yet to be named "Tenzing-Hillary Airport". It was then called just "Lukla Airport".

Those Nepalese Pilots are some of the best mountainous region flyers. Here are the Lukla Pilot qualifications:

"Mandatory Pilot Qualifications:

Because Lukla features a short, uphill runway at a high altitude with zero margin for a missed approach or go-around, only an exclusive group of highly experienced pilots operate there. The requirements include:

• Short Takeoff and Landing (STOL) Experience: A minimum of 100 STOL flights must be logged.

• Time in Country: At least one year of active STOL flying experience within Nepal.

• Supervised Training: Completion of 10 supervised flights into Lukla alongside a certified instructor pilot before commanding flights independently.

• Recurrent Training: Mandatory annual simulator training specifically tailored to mountain flying and high-altitude emergency protocols.

• Visual Flight Rules (VFR): All operations must occur under Visual Flight Rules (VFR). Pilots must rely entirely on their eyesight, local visual landmarks, and spatial awareness because the airport lacks instrument landing systems."

A few other tidbits of interest:

Hillary-Norgay becoming the first climbers (officially) confirmed to have reached the Everest summit, remains one of the most remarkable human achievements of all time. I recall, decades ago, there was just a book or two read about it. Hillary's High Adventure was the authoritative first-person account for a long time. However, now-a-days so much (abundant) information (and videos) is available online.

One aspect of it, that has struck me was how the news was communicated back to London (the expedition was sponsored by United Kingdom with logistic support from British institutions, though, Edmund Hillary was a New Zealander and Tenzing Norgay was a Nepalese Sherpa).

The summit was reached on May 29, 1953, at 11:30 am. The news broke in London on the morning of June 2, 1953, after a delay of nearly 3 full days, btw, coinciding exactly with the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II on the same day. The British public widely hailed the historic achievement as a serendipitous "coronation gift" and an auspicious omen marking the dawn of a new "Elizabethan Age"...🙂...

"The news was communicated via a combination of a high-altitude runner, a radio transmission, and a telegram. The team used a pre-arranged, cryptic code to hide the success from competitors until the eve of Queen Elizabeth II's coronation.

The chain of communication unfolded as follows:

• The Runner: From the expedition’s high-altitude camp, a runner carried the written news on foot along the rugged mountain trails to a pedal-operated radio transmitter in Namche Bazaar, Nepal. The runner was a trusted Sherpa mail runner named Ten Tsewang Sherpa. He ran across treacherous mountainous terrain from the expedition's Base Camp to Kathmandu to deliver the historic dispatch. Tragically, Ten Tsewang Sherpa passed away just a few weeks after completing his monumental run, supposedly, due to the severe physical exhaustion of the journey, combined with what is widely believed to be sheer overexertion and exposure, that proved fatal. The story of his historic mission is vastly forgotten.

• The Coded Radio Transmission: The radio operator transmitted the message to the British Embassy in Kathmandu. The message sounded like a standard logistical update: "Snow conditions bad stop advanced base abandoned yesterday stop awaiting improvement stop all well." However, hidden within this text was a pre-arranged code that translated to: "Everest Climbed Hillary Norgay May 29".

• The Telegram to London: The Embassy officials received the decoded message and promptly wired it via telegram to the British capital."

Only if there were a smart phone around...then the news could have been communicated in (milli) seconds instead of the 3 days it took...🙂...Oh well ...

Cheers...!

Edited May 18May 18 by P_7878