Photo : Collected
Biman Bangladesh Airlines is again in the face of scam for forcing the sick pilot to take over the flight. Earlier, BIMAN was caught in the scandal by taking on the responsibility of operating flights despite the expiry of medical certificate of the pilot. BIMAN face fine is over Tk 10 lakh.
This time the loss is around Tk 10 crore. Attempts were made to cover up the fact that the sick pilot Captain Maqsood Ahmed was forced to operate the flight, but the matter was leaked.
However, no investigation committee has been formed in this incident so far. No statement from the aviation authority was received in this regard.
A former civil aviation official, who did not want to be named, told The Daily Messenger “The loss to the aircraft was visible. The incident has happened because of their negligence.”
He said that the boarding pass must be taken in advance at the destination where the flight will go. There are fix fees for this. The rent of the space that will be used by the space flight is at least $500 per passenger for their accommodation and meals. There were about 350 passengers on that flight.
Also, if you calculate fuel, unload, boarding pass for the next flight, space all together, its amount will go over 10 crores.
In response to a quarry, he said that Biman can be fined from ICAO as well. It can be said with certainty that due to the negligence of the airline this huge money has to be paid as compensation.
Experts say a pilot can declare himself officially sick at any time. According to the rules, if a pilot officially declares himself sick or ill, then Biman will not be able to fly until the pilot declares himself fit.
According to rules, if the pilot does not declare himself healthy within 48 hours, then the pilot has to conduct the flight with a health certificate after being examined by the Chief Medical Officer (CMO). And if the pilot is admitted to the hospital, then he must take a medical certificate as per the rules of the Civil Aviation Authority and then operate the flight.
Concerns said, a senior pilot of the plane was not spared even after declaring himself sick. He was allegedly sent on an international flight while ill. As a result, the sick pilot returned with the flight from mid-air. In this incident, the issue of extreme passenger suffering and international flight safety has come under question. The loss has been calculated at least more than Tk 10 crore.
After come back, the flight was sent to the destination after 5 hours with a new pilot.
It is reported that the sick pilot returned from mid-air and was admitted to the hospital. But later the regulatory body started operating the flight again without taking any approval from the Civil Aviation Authority. Internationally, the issue of flight safety has come under question in these incidents.
The name of the pilot who declared himself sick is Captain Maqsood Ahmed. He is the brother of Captain Mosaddiq Ahmed, former managing director of Biman. It is reported that on March 14, Captain Maqsood declared himself sick in writing and told that he could not operate the flight. But Biman's scheduling department insisted on not accepting his sick report and forced him to operate the flight. Send an airplane to his house. Maqsood came on the flight despite being sick.
That flight of BG 325 was supposed to go from Dhaka to Doha that day. There were more than 300 passengers on the flight. It is reported that Captain Maqsood's back pain became extreme after taking the flight to Kolkata. At one point he decided to bring the flight back after talking to the first officer (co-pilot). He brought the flight to Dhaka after about an hour of extremely dangerous flying. After that, he was directly admitted to hospital in Dhaka.
Meanwhile, the question is, why did the pilot fly with Captain Maqsood even after declaring sick? There are many more pilots in BIMAN. The flight was operated by a sick pilot leaving passengers at risk! In this case, if the flight had crashed in the middle of the sky, then who would take responsibility for it?
This is a serious crime under international law. If found out by the International Civil Aviation Authority (ICAO), the airline can be fined heavily. Similarly, the license of the aircraft can also be canceled. However, despite such a big incident, no action has been taken against anyone in this incident so far. No inquiry committee has been constituted yet.
Earlier, a Bangladeshi woman pilot and an Indonesian pilot were criticized after their medical certificates had expired. At that time Biman was also fined Tk 10 lakh. Repeatedly such scandals of Biman have started a criticism everywhere.
Aviation authority did not comment over the issue.
Messenger/Disha
