Bangladesh Biman's most expensive and modern aircraft Dreamliner (B-787) has taken a suicidal decision. A pilot who flies the Boeing 777-300ER can now also fly the Boeing 787 Dreamliner without experience. That is, the pilots of the aircraft got the ability to fly two types of aircraft simultaneously. This decision was made in the middle of last year. Aviation experts are calling such a decision extremely risky and suicidal.
The state carrier's most valuable fleet is the Boeing 777-300ER and the state-of-the-art Boeing 787 Dreamliner. The aviation sector is in uproar over this risky decision to operate sophisticated aircraft. Many have called on Biman to reverse the decision. Their complaint is that if a pilot goes to fly a 777 for a few days and a Dreamliner for a few days, there is a danger of making a mess. During a disaster that can be even more dire. It can lead to a terrible accident.
Biman's Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Managing Director Abu Saleh Mustafa Kamal told Jugantar that many airlines in the world have this dual flight. This can also be done according to the Boeing Company manual. But not all pilots will get this benefit. Because it is very sensitive and risky. For this reason, only expert pilots of Boeing 777-300ER can do dual flights. In that case they have to take training first.
It is known that the systems of Boeing 777-300ER and Boeing 787 Dreamliner are completely different. The two aircraft are from the same company but have different configurations. Some flight techniques are also different. The Dreamliner B787 aircraft is much more sophisticated and tactile than the B777. Many of the cockpit techniques are completely different from the Dreamliner's B777. Experts commented that giving the responsibility of operating such a valuable and sophisticated aircraft without any kind of experience is not the right decision. According to them, even the world's most expensive airlines have not thought of dual flights until now. Especially many countries in Europe and America have not started flights like this. 3 airlines in Asia started dual flights but one airline canceled their decision after several major accidents. Biman has taken this decision without any kind of verification, technical considerations. They said that this decision of Biman is extremely risky for both the aircraft and the passengers. Because, currently there are not many expert pilots who are proficient in flying two types of aircraft at the same time. The one or two that are there are mostly old. At this age, it will be extremely risky for them to operate any new aircraft with only training.
According to Jugantar's research, even though Biman has decided to operate dual equipment, they have no big plans for it. No policies have been developed. There is also no operation manual with risk analysis. Although a high-level committee was formed on February 26, 2020, the committee has not met so far. The Committee is chaired by the Director of Flight Operations (DFO). Biman's Chief of Flight Safety, Chief of Technical, Fleet Chief Boeing 777, Instructor B 777 and Bapa President are also in that committee. The committee was asked to prepare a list of Boeing 777 pilots who would be able to operate dual flights. At the same time it is asked to formulate a policy for recruitment. Although this committee was signed by the former director of Biman Zia Uddin Ahmed, it is known that they have not held any meeting so far.
It is known that Biman had a meeting with the Flight Standards and Regulations Department of the Civil Aviation Authority (CABA). The meeting was held on March 9, 2020. It was presided over by Captain Chowdhury Ziaul Kabir, member of Flight Standards and Regulations Group of Babychock. After the meeting a committee of 3 members was formed. The committee was asked to complete the necessary risk analysis and report on the dual equipment operation of the aircraft within 7 days. The members of the committee were Biman pilots Captain Sajid, Captain Shafiqul Azam and the first trained pilot to conduct dual flights Captain Mahtab.
Meanwhile, on the condition of anonymity, a senior pilot of the flight operations department of Babychock told Jugantar that there are questions about the committee formed by Babychock for such a technical matter. Because Captain Shafiqul Azam has no experience of operating Boeing 777-300ER in this committee of 3 members. How does he perform risk analysis of such high risk flights? Moreover, the person under whose leadership this committee has been formed has never operated such a flight. To know about this, Babychock's flight standards and regulations (FSR) department member (member) Group Captain Chowdhury Ziaul Kabir was contacted by telephone, but he did not pick up the phone. When Babychak went to meet him at the headquarters on Sunday, the personal officer said he was sick. According to the minutes of the meeting chaired by him on March 9, 2020, a proposal was sent to Babych from Biman to operate dual flights. In the light of this, the President instructed Senior FOI Captain Majed from Babychak to review the issues and finalize a draft. All aspects of safety including recommendations of air operators and aircraft manufacturers were discussed in the meeting. In that meeting, Biman's Chief of Safety said that before the permission to operate more than one type of aircraft, the concerned pilots should see if there is any history of accidents up to 10 years ago. Besides, the Chief of Training, proposed to restrict this authorization only to the instructor level. But it can be seen that nothing has been implemented.
Despite all this, Captain Mahtab Uddin Ahmed has been sent to Ethiopia for training in this regard by hastily spending crores of rupees. He is the head of Biman's planning and scheduling department. He is also a line training instructor for Boeing 777. Besides, the 'Risk Analysis' of the operation of this dual flight was done by Captain Mahtab. Biman is starting to operate dual flights with him again. Those concerned consider it a 'conflict of interest' in the field of law. Besides, a list of 20 more members has been prepared for training abroad. Among them are several unskilled line pilots. Those who are repeatedly failing the re-current simulator exam held every 6 months.
A former pilot of Biman told Jugantar that according to his knowledge, only one of the airlines in Asia, who have simulator training facilities, are doing this dual flight with only a few pilots. That too after 6 months. A simulator is a machine that has all the technical facilities of an aircraft. A pilot can know and learn everything about aircraft operation by sitting in that machine. In order to conduct dual flights, the respective airlines must have simulator machines. Because if a pilot has a technical problem while flying, then it is resolved immediately by communicating with the pilot while sitting on the simulator machine. But airplanes do not have this advantage. For simulator training, Biman has to go to the developed countries of the world including Singapore, London. If a pilot of a 777 in a dual flight has a problem while piloting the Dreamliner, how will it be resolved? And if not resolved, he can cause major accidents at any time. A Biman Dreamliner costs 1200 crores and a 777 costs over 2400 crores. It is not advisable to make big bets on such valuable aircraft. Moreover, the flight standards and regulatory department in the country is not yet efficient. The department also does not have a competent Flight Inspector (FOI) to operate the 777 and 787.
