Biman flight makes emergency landing at HSIA

An aircraft of Biman Bangladesh Airlines made an emergency landing at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport (HSIA) on Thursday morning, causing flight disruptions for several hours.

Officials said the Boeing B37-800 that came in from Muscat, Oman with 149 passengers and seven crew members on board, was supposed to land at Chittagong Shah Amanat International Airport.

But the flight BG122 landed at Dhaka airport at around 10:07am after both tyres of the wheels of the aircraft’s rear landing gear gave in, they said.

When contacted, Managing Director of Biman Bangladesh Airlines Mosaddek Ahmed said control tower of Muscat airport had reported finding some parts of the tyres of wheels on the airport runway to the pilot after the aircraft took off.

Instead of going to Chittagong, the plane flew to Dhaka and made an emergency landing after flying at a low level over the runway twice.

“The other nose wheel also ruptured upon landing. But all the passengers and crew members came out of the aircraft unharmed,” he added.

The flight operations at the airport remained shut for several hours following the incident, causing immense sufferings to the inbound and outbound passengers.

Talking to the FE, Anishta Samreen Khan, a passenger travelling from US on an Emirates flight, said she was supposed to land at Dhaka at 10:15am but the landing of her flight was deferred by nearly three hours.

Citing a mobile app that she had downloaded to her smartphone, she said the app showed her that some six flights of various airlines were circling the airport seeking permission for landing.

Dhoritri Rani Roy, a housewife who planned to come to Dhaka by a domestic flight of the national flag carrier from Syedpur, said the flight was supposed to fly at about 2:30pm but the authorities deferred its take off by one and half hour.

“But at about 4:30pm, the flight was cancelled for the day, leaving me in serious trouble as I came to Syedpur from Panchgargh,” she said in a note of frustration.

Meanwhile, two domestic flights of US-Bangla Airlines and Regent Airways went back to Chittagong after takeoff because of the incident, an officer at the HSIA said on condition of anonymity.

He said the flight operations returned to normalcy after 12:30pm. The national flag carrier is already under criticism for the glitch that compelled Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s Hungary flight to make an emergency landing last month.

A loose nut in the fuel storage had caused a loss of pressure in an engine, leading to that emergency stoppage as revealed by the airline authority. Several Biman officials were also arrested and remanded over the glitch.