bdnews24.com :
The three ‘scenic tour flights’ of the last DC-10 aircraft in operation have drawn a huge response in the United Kingdom.
Aviation enthusiasts and experts from across the world are enjoying the flights of the Biman Bangladesh Airlines-owned plane that began on Saturday and would be spread over three days.
A total of 144 passengers are being flown in every flight.
Biman Managing Director Kevin Steele told bdnews24.com at Birmingham on Saturday: “All the seats for all scheduled scenic flights here have already been booked.”
The aircraft flew to Birmingham with 314 passengers on Thursday for the last time and reached the destination after 13 hours around 9.30am UK local time.
Several hundred aviation enthusiasts gathered at the airport to say good bye to the aircraft, which was considered the backbone of Bangladesh’s national flag carrier.
After the scenic tour, the aircraft is scheduled to be flown back to Dhaka on Monday, ending its 30 years life in the sky.
The Biman MD said they had planned to hand the aircraft over to Boeing for display at its museum at Seattle in the US.
“But they (museum authorities) have said they won’t have space to keep it for at least six months. But this aircraft will not be allowed to fly after May.”
Steele said Biman had a good chance to sell the aircraft as scrap.
Captain Quyum, who is flying the plane for the last time, was overwhelmed with emotion while talking about it.
He said: “It was part of our everyday life. Now we feel very sad not only because it’s going to leave the Biman fleet, but also because we’ll never ever see any DC-10 carry passengers.”
Two US aircraft manufacturers, McDonnell Aircraft Corporation and Douglas Aircraft Company, merged in 1976 to form McDonnell-Douglas. A year later, the company manufactured the first DC-10, which made its maiden flight on Aug 29, 1970.
American Airlines started operating commercial flights with the three-engine plane in 1971.
McDonnell-Douglas manufactured 386 DC-10s for civil flights and 60 for military use. A DC-10 accommodates a 30-seat business compartment, besides another 274 seats and space for carrying 30 tonnes of cargo. No airline uses DC-10s for passenger flights at present but some companies are using them as cargo aircraft.
Biman used to own four DC-10s. One of them crashed in Chittagong, while two have been out of operation for long.
