No job card kept during maintenance on PM’s flight
Inspection work of the Biman Bangladesh Airlines VVIP aircraft Boeing 777 300 ER had been completed without keeping a job card, which is a mandated record of the maintenance. This is a major violation of Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs).
According to aviation SOPs, Biman Bangladesh Airlines engineering department has to distribute the maintenance work of an aircraft to engineers concerned following the job card system.
On November 27, VVIP flight BG1101 carrying the prime minister made an emergency landing at Ashgabat airport in Turkmenistan due to technical glitch on its way to Budapest.
A day later, Biman formed a four-member investigation committee led by Chief of Technical Captain Fazal Mahmud Chowdhury to investigate the incident.
A job card is a procedure in which the responsibilities of the engineers engaged in an aircraft maintenance are mentioned. It is a written document.
Biman engineering department is obligated to follow the SOP in VVIP aircraft inspection. The investigation committee did not find any job card.
An official of the national flag carrier told the Dhaka Tribune that the engineering department did not properly follow the SOP to inspect the VVIP aircraft.
“Not following the SOP is a severe negligence by the engineering department. Those responsible for making the job card should be punished,” added the official.
According to the investigation committee, the engineering department of Biman has been ignoring the task of maintaining job cards for some time.
Biman sources said after taking charge as Director of Engineering, M Asaduzzaman had gradually discontinued the system. Asasuzzaman took charge of the department five years ago.
An engineer of Biman said under the current top management, Biman’s engineering had fallen into disarray. No one in the engineering department strictly followed the rules and regulations.
‘Verbal instructions by senior engineers has been turned into the system and that is the main problem in this department’
“Verbal instructions by senior engineers has been turned into the system and that is the main problem in this department,” the engineer said.
The VVIP flight investigation committee also found that an engineer was forced to sign a document related to maintenance by Chief Engineer (production) Debesh Chowdhury though he was not involved in the task.
According to the aviation Standard Operating Procedures, a GR certified engineer must be present in-flight when Biman operates a VVIP flight. Before flying, the GR certified engineer will start the aircraft engine as a part of safety measures. Biman Chief Engineer (productions) Debesh Chowdhury did not include the name of any GR certified engineer for the flight.
Despite repeated attempts, M Asaduzzaman, director of engineering of Biman, could not be reached for
