We publish coordinates so that a rescue coordinator, an insurer or a trek leader can give an exact position instead of describing a village. If you are arranging an evacuation, quote the figures from this page.
Coordinates are published so a rescue coordinator, an insurer or a trek leader can pass an exact position without describing a village. Confirm any pad with us before planning a landing.
Accuracy
These positions are accurate to within a few hundred metres and are published for planning and coordination. They are not a substitute for an operator’s own pad records, and seasonal pads at Everest Base Camp and Ama Dablam move year to year. Confirm any landing with us before you plan around it.
What makes a Himalayan helipad difficult
Altitude. Above four thousand metres, useful load falls quickly. Above five thousand, a single-engine machine carrying passengers is working with very little margin.
Size and surface. Most pads in the Khumbu are small platforms of stone or packed earth, sometimes on terracing, sometimes on moraine. There is rarely room to reposition.
Wind. Valleys accelerate and channel wind, and slopes generate turbulence through the middle of the day. A pad that is benign at seven in the morning can be unusable by eleven.
People. The most common hazard on a Himalayan helipad is not the aircraft, it is the crowd around it. Stay behind the line until the rotor stops, approach from the front where the crew can see you, never walk towards the tail, and secure anything loose.