Special Correspondent :
The Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport [HSIA], the lone airport in Dhaka mainly used for civilian passengers, witnessed a chaotic situation on Thursday due to disruption in flight schedule following the emergency landing of a Biman aircraft.
The situation occurred when a flight of Bangladesh Biman, coming from Muscat and destined for Chittagong, made an emergency landing blocking the main runway resulting from cracks in one of its rear wheels, officials told The New Nation.
Hundreds of passengers of domestic and international routes had to suffer tremendous problem while schedule of several flights were altered by the authorities apparently to re-adjust the timetable.
At the same time, tension prevailed among the friends and relatives of passengers,
who went to the airport to welcome or see-off their near and dear ones, seeing unconventional flying of aircrafts in the sky being prohibited from landing in the blocked runway. Couples of domestic and international planes had to roam over the HSIA for not getting clearance from the airport authorities. Some planes landed in the adjacent Chittagong and Kolkata airports. They had to make alternate landing in the nearby airports after they faced fuel shortage due to additional flying in the sky more than one hour.
The flight of Qatar Airways [flight-640] coming from Dallas via Doha was scheduled to land at 10:10 am at HSIA. But it had to alter its destination and landed at Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport in Kolkata. It again returned to Dhaka at 3:00pm.
At about 9:45am, the Biman aircraft [flight BG122] carrying over 149 passengers along with seven crews made the emergency landing at HSIA bursting its second rear wheel on the concrete runway. Its first rear wheel was ruptured immediately after took off from Oman.
The panic stricken passengers, however, were disembarked apparently without any injury. The Civil Aviation Authority, Bangladesh [CAAB] managed to clear the runway pulling out the aircraft after two and a half hours disruption.
The airport activities, particularly take-off and landing of the aircrafts, were closed during the aforesaid period. The normal flight activities were resumed at about 12: 30pm.
The Biman authorities last night formed a four-member inquiry committee headed by Deputy Chief of Flight Safety Captain AN Ahmed to find out the reason behind the incident, General Manager [public relations] of Bangladesh Biman Shakil Meraj said. Director of HSIA Group Captain Kazi Iqbal Karim said that the flight of Bangladesh Biman made emergency landing following “technical fault”.
“One of the rear wheels [left side] of Boeing 738 was cracked just after it took-off from Muscat, the capital of Oman, at about 4:48am. It was bound for Chittagong Shah Amanat International Airport [SAIA]. But its wheel burst just after it spread wings,” he said. Significantly, the incident took place at a time when the national flag carrier Biman has been facing widespread criticism following the emergency landing of the VVIP plane in Turkmenistan carrying Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on November 27.
Manager of SAIA Wing Commander Riajul Kabir said: “Due to shut down of flight operation at HSIA, a number of aircrafts, including one of US Bangla Airlines and another of Regent Airways, returned back to SAIA after takeoff from there.”
On December 12, another Myanmar-bound aircraft of Bangladesh Biman was compelled to return Dhaka due to technical fault. Later, it started journey again after repairing engine making a delay for six hours.
Meanwhile, the members of Counter-Terrorism and Transnational Crime Unit of Police on Thursday arrested seven Biman officials in connection with a case filed over the glitch in Prime Minister’s flight.
The arrested were identified as Biman’s Chief Engineer [Production] Debesh Chowdhury, Chief Engineer [Inspection and Quality Control] SA Siddique, Chief Engineer [NCC] Billal Hossain, and engineers Lutfar Rahman, Samiul Haque, Milon Chandra Biswas and Zakir Hossain.
Deputy Commission of Dhaka Metropolitan Police Masudur Rahman said they were nabbed on Wednesday late night from different parts of the city.
Two other suspects in the case, junior technical officer Md Siddiqur Rahman and engineering official SM Rokonuzzaman, were sent to jail after they surrender to court yesterday.
The Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport [HSIA], the lone airport in Dhaka mainly used for civilian passengers, witnessed a chaotic situation on Thursday due to disruption in flight schedule following the emergency landing of a Biman aircraft.
The situation occurred when a flight of Bangladesh Biman, coming from Muscat and destined for Chittagong, made an emergency landing blocking the main runway resulting from cracks in one of its rear wheels, officials told The New Nation.
Hundreds of passengers of domestic and international routes had to suffer tremendous problem while schedule of several flights were altered by the authorities apparently to re-adjust the timetable.
At the same time, tension prevailed among the friends and relatives of passengers,
who went to the airport to welcome or see-off their near and dear ones, seeing unconventional flying of aircrafts in the sky being prohibited from landing in the blocked runway. Couples of domestic and international planes had to roam over the HSIA for not getting clearance from the airport authorities. Some planes landed in the adjacent Chittagong and Kolkata airports. They had to make alternate landing in the nearby airports after they faced fuel shortage due to additional flying in the sky more than one hour.
The flight of Qatar Airways [flight-640] coming from Dallas via Doha was scheduled to land at 10:10 am at HSIA. But it had to alter its destination and landed at Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport in Kolkata. It again returned to Dhaka at 3:00pm.
At about 9:45am, the Biman aircraft [flight BG122] carrying over 149 passengers along with seven crews made the emergency landing at HSIA bursting its second rear wheel on the concrete runway. Its first rear wheel was ruptured immediately after took off from Oman.
The panic stricken passengers, however, were disembarked apparently without any injury. The Civil Aviation Authority, Bangladesh [CAAB] managed to clear the runway pulling out the aircraft after two and a half hours disruption.
The airport activities, particularly take-off and landing of the aircrafts, were closed during the aforesaid period. The normal flight activities were resumed at about 12: 30pm.
The Biman authorities last night formed a four-member inquiry committee headed by Deputy Chief of Flight Safety Captain AN Ahmed to find out the reason behind the incident, General Manager [public relations] of Bangladesh Biman Shakil Meraj said. Director of HSIA Group Captain Kazi Iqbal Karim said that the flight of Bangladesh Biman made emergency landing following “technical fault”.
“One of the rear wheels [left side] of Boeing 738 was cracked just after it took-off from Muscat, the capital of Oman, at about 4:48am. It was bound for Chittagong Shah Amanat International Airport [SAIA]. But its wheel burst just after it spread wings,” he said. Significantly, the incident took place at a time when the national flag carrier Biman has been facing widespread criticism following the emergency landing of the VVIP plane in Turkmenistan carrying Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on November 27.
Manager of SAIA Wing Commander Riajul Kabir said: “Due to shut down of flight operation at HSIA, a number of aircrafts, including one of US Bangla Airlines and another of Regent Airways, returned back to SAIA after takeoff from there.”
On December 12, another Myanmar-bound aircraft of Bangladesh Biman was compelled to return Dhaka due to technical fault. Later, it started journey again after repairing engine making a delay for six hours.
Meanwhile, the members of Counter-Terrorism and Transnational Crime Unit of Police on Thursday arrested seven Biman officials in connection with a case filed over the glitch in Prime Minister’s flight.
The arrested were identified as Biman’s Chief Engineer [Production] Debesh Chowdhury, Chief Engineer [Inspection and Quality Control] SA Siddique, Chief Engineer [NCC] Billal Hossain, and engineers Lutfar Rahman, Samiul Haque, Milon Chandra Biswas and Zakir Hossain.
Deputy Commission of Dhaka Metropolitan Police Masudur Rahman said they were nabbed on Wednesday late night from different parts of the city.
Two other suspects in the case, junior technical officer Md Siddiqur Rahman and engineering official SM Rokonuzzaman, were sent to jail after they surrender to court yesterday.
