(KPL) A small airplane of Lao Air, carrying 11 passengers with its destination to Samneua district, Phongsaly province, made an emergency landing on rice field in Nam Ngum dam area, Vientiane province after its machine stopping suddenly.

Luckily, nobody and two pilots died and injure, according to a press conference of Lao Air Company took place on 21 April, Vientiane.



Director of Lao Air Company, Mr Bounma Chanthavong said that the plane (Cessna 208 Grand Carvan, flight LLL 200) took off from the Wattay International Airport to Samneua district at 10:19 am on 11 April after being on air for a while with about 2,000 metre height and it was about 25 miles or 40 km far away from Nam Ngum dam area.





The machine of plane stopping suddenly, in case of emergency, a pilot major Bountem Souphamisay and his assistance pilot Phoukhao Sinthavong tried to restart its machine again but it was not effect. So the pilot immediately decided to make an emergency landing safely on rice field of Ban Nam Ang, Thoulakhom district, Vientiane province.





This was the first experience of the company since established the company in 2002. Throughout the investigation of expert team of plane machine producing factory found that the plane of turbo propeller has broken leading to its machine stopped. In this case will be further investigated why its turbo propeller broken.

Laos is making significant progress in its experiments to produce bio-diesel from soybean oil and used palm oil for use in vehicles in place of regular diesel.

The experiment began five months ago conducted by the Sustainable Tree Plantation and Livestock Promotion Association.

The bio-diesel is made from used palm oil and fresh processed soybean oil with organic additives made from crops in Laos...more

To prove the success of the experiment, five vehicles were driven for almost 200km using the bio-diesel yesterday.

“The bus runs so smoothly I can't tell the difference between the bio-diesel in the tank now and the diesel I buy at the petrol station, even when the bus is going uphill,” said a bus driver, Amphone Sisoutham, who has worked in the job for 25 years.

He also said the exhaust fumes had a pleasant smell, a favourable comparison to the bad odours given off by diesel.

Another point in its favour, he said, was the fact that the engine did not overheat but maintained the same temperature as when using ordinary diesel.

“Yesterday, when I was informed that officials would drain my bus's tank of diesel, I was worried and called my director. I felt quite strongly we should not put bio-diesel in the tank, but I was surprised when the engine started right away,” said Mr Sisoutham.

He said the engine would have showed signs of trouble within 6 kilometres if the new fuel was causing any problems.

According to the association's electro-mechanical engineer, Mr Douglas A. Handisides, the bio-diesel can be used on its own or mixed with regular diesel.

He said it was not necessary to make any adjustments to a vehicle in order to use bio-diesel in the engine.

Importantly, there have been no reports indicating that any country owns a copyright to produce bio-diesel made from soybean oil and used palm oil, he added.

The president of the association, Mr Houmpheng Manipoun, said the experiment had not given any indication of the production costs, the price of the product or how many kilogrammes of soybeans were needed to produce one litre of bio-diesel.

He said the association would have to calculate this in the future to get more details before proposing any copyright for the product.

The experiment is in line with the Prime Ministerial decree on crop planting promotion to produce a source of energy, contributing to poverty alleviation.

The cost of the bio-diesel is expected to be lower than regular diesel because after oil is extracted from the soybeans, the residue can be sold as food.

Mr Houmpheng said that if the experiment proves production costs are less than the cost of diesel, Laos has a strong incentive to grow soybeans in large quantity

Vientienetime