Anoth Biman Bangladesh Airlines aircraft has been struck by a bird during take-off in Sylhet, and stakeholders have blamed the Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh (CAAB) as they have not taken effective measures or installed modern equipment to protect and ensure safety during take-offs and landings.
Aviation experts said if a bird flies into an aircraft engine, its fans, blades and spinners are likely to be damaged and shut down.
Although no major accidents have occurred so far, pilots are under stress of facing troubles in future, they warned.
Bird hits Biman Boeing 737
The Biman engine of the Biman aircraft, a Boeing 737, engine was hit by a bird, resulting in damage to a few of its blades, during take-off from Sylhet to Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka on Tuesday.
The flight was coming from Doha to Dhaka via Sylhet.
The pilot of the aircraft (BG226), however, managed to land the plane safely at about 7:45am.
Tahera Khondoker, general manager of Biman Bangladesh Airlines, confirmed the matter to Dhaka Tribune on Tuesday.
The Biman spokesperson said: "The flight was carrying 146 passengers from Doha, Qatar. Among them, 124 passengers got off at Sylhet airport."
She further said: "A bird hit the fans and blades of the aircraft engine during take-off… However, we cannot figure out the exact time it occurred."
An engineering team of the airport has already repaired the engines, fans and blades after landing at Dhaka airport, so the aircraft is now ready for take-off, the Biman official said.
CAAB blamed
Several domestic and foreign airlines have put the blame on CAAB for frequent bird strikes.
About 30 such incidents have occurred in the last six months. Many flights made emergency landings as a result.
Due to the skill of the pilots, there has been no loss of life in such situations so far, but there are fears of major accidents.
Last year CAAB Chairman Air Vice Marshal M Mafidur Rahman told Dhaka Tribune: "We are bringing some devices to monitor such situations. We will first use the devices at Dhaka airport and then gradually extend them to other airports."
On Tuesday, the airport's executive director, Group Captain Mohammad Kamrul Islam, said: "We have already installed a bird control monitor system (BCMS) at Dhaka Airport this year."
Other airports will get the facility gradually, he said.
However, the CAAB chairman said the situation cannot be avoided unless the airport traffic control tower gives a signal beforehand or the pilot sees the bird from their position.
Aviation experts termed the situation unacceptable and blamed CAAB for its negligence.
They said that CAAB earns more than thousands of crores of taka every year, but it is unfortunate that they cannot afford to buy modern equipment to ensure the safety of aircraft from bird strikes.
Recently, the government decided to spend over Tk32,500 crore on the modernization of eight airports in the country.