[1/2] A rescue team recovers the body of a victim from the site of the plane crash of a Yeti Airlines operated aircraft on January 15, 2023, in Pokhara, Nepal January 16, 2023.
"Her husband, Dipak Pokhrel, died in 2006 in a crash of a Twin Otter plane of Yeti Airlines in Jumla," airline spokesman Sudarshan Bartaula told Reuters, referring to Khatiwada.
"She got her pilot training with the money she got from the insurance after her husband's death."
A pilot with more than 6,400 hours of flying time, Khatiwada had previously flown the popular tourist route from the capital, Kathmandu, to the country's second-largest city, Pokhara, Bartaula said.
"On Sunday, she was flying the plane with an instructor pilot, which is the standard procedure of the airline," said an Yeti Airlines official, who knew Khatiwada personally.