Cracked windscreen: Biman’s 737 grounded in KL

A Boeing 737-800 aircraft of Biman Bangladesh Airlines has remained grounded in Malaysia since Tuesday due to a crack on its windshield.

According to the flight operations department of Biman, the BG086 flight left Dhaka for Kuala Lumpur around 11:30pm on Monday carrying 126 passengers on board.

After landing at the airport in Kuala Lumpur on Tuesday morning, the pilot Captain Shakhawat Hossain saw a crack on the windshield of the aircraft.

The aircraft was later grounded for repairs after the matter was reported to the Biman authorities in Dhaka, sources in the national flag carrier said.

Biman was forced to cancel the return flight from Kuala Lumpur which was scheduled to depart on Tuesday causing suffering to 146 passengers.

However, another special flight of Boeing 737, which was sent to Kuala Lumpur on Tuesday, brought back the stranded passengers to Dhaka last night, Biman officials said.

In the special flight, Biman sent its engineers, technicians and the necessary equipment to Malaysia to change the windshield. The aircraft was likely to return to Dhaka last night.

Biman in January purchased the 20-year-old two Boeing 737-800s including the grounded one at Tk 168 crore which the national flag carrier took a lease from Celestial Aviation Trading Ltd, Ireland in 2009.

Sources said Biman was forced to purchase the two aircraft as it would take a huge cost for the national airliner to bring back those two aircraft to the leasing company as per the lease agreement.

Operating cargo flights using these two aircrafts for around one year since March 2020 caused damage to the interior including seat, overhead luggage bin, toilets and floors, sources in Biman said.

Insiders in Biman said not only cracks on the windshield but also a variety of problems are often detected in these two Boeing 737 aircrafts.

Since February 2, a brand new Dash-8 aircraft of Biman also remained grounded due to damages in its engines apparently due to the pilot's faulty handling of the aircraft, sources in Biman said.

While the aircraft was midair on its way to Sylhet from Dhaka on February 1, with 71 passengers on board, pilot Capt Rubaiyat, who is also the deputy chief of training of Biman, used emergency power (known as metal-to-metal thrust in aviation) of the aircraft, sources said.