Some commentators saying thin air due to altitude in Nepal contributing to risk of Stall. However the airport PKR is lower than Cooma airport OOM (AMSL)
Basically, IAS is IAS. The altitude will mean the TAS is a little faster than that IAS would give at sea level, and the most noticeable effect of that is that you'll have more inertia than you would for a given IAS. But, as aircraft fly on IAS, and that is what is displayed to the pilots, it's not really an issue. The elevation of Pokhara is quite trivial, at 800m, (so only a few hundred feet higher than Canberra).
Allegedly its not a new airport but a second runway was recently opened for international traffic. The original single runway to be used by this flight is now designated the domestic runway.
They were going to the new airport. Just look at the FR24 tracks for that aircraft for previous days. The accident, whilst more or less over the old airport, is also about the position for a visual left turn from base to finals for runway 12 at the new airport. It's also about 2.5 miles from that runway, which would give an altitude 750' at that position. It's always hard to pick altitude from video, and they do appear somewhat lower, but not dramatically so.
Here's the fact check of the footage:
Is this Real Footage From Inside Plane Just Before it Crashed in Nepal?
It's been verified by a variety of independent, reputable sources. BBC, Guardian etc. Friends of the deceased have also confirmed the authenticity of the footage.
Avherald is reporting it’s one of two videos that have been falsified which is good because the live streaming video is a fairly good effort (albeit a sick and ghoulish) one.
I've had a really good look at the video (and the slightly extended one). I hate to say it, but I think it's real. Simon on AV has made his statement about it being false, based on a simple claim that the first part is from an earlier flight. Given that it seems people who would know have verified the identity of the people in the images, unless they'd been there multiple times, that seems unlikely. And a simple comparison of the view out the window, with Google maps, easily locates them at the correct spot(s) in Pokhara. Simon's second comment is that the pitch up should have been evident, but I don't agree.
Using the video on Youtube from German Aviation, which has the people censored, but is also slightly longer than others.
At:
22 seconds 28.214281852158884, 84.01052514930174
28 seconds 28.2147664103637, 84.00649284947228
32 seconds 28.21556833481977, 84.0036362019142
35 seconds 28.215896736961174, 84.00203551444825
Break in the video
41 seconds 28.206939134137166, 83.9878162919298
47 seconds 28.20506034897683, 83.986320458261
52 seconds 28.2023349191071, 83.9854020384971
These positions are all consistent with a visual circuit to runway 12 at the new airfield. It does overfly (or come very close to) the old airport, but that would be normal given their relative locations.
Looking at the wing, there is flap, but not a great deal. The obvious suspicion would have to be that they've missed a stage of flap. Insufficient flap will most certainly lead to a stall. The wing drop is consistent with that.