The country's newest private airline - Air Astra, has recently concluded a two-day training event titled “Pilots' Workshop for ATR 72 - Systems & Procedures.”
The training event was conducted by famous YouTube vloggers Captain Magnar Nordal from Norway and Captain Khalid M Saifullah from Bangladesh.
Captain Magnar Nordal is currently an instructor captain at Maldivian Airlines flying the ATR 72-600 aircraft and the wide following of his educational videos on YouTube, particularly on the ATR aircraft, has earned him celebrity status among ATR pilots around the world.
Captain Khalid M Saifullah, the incumbent Chief of Training at Air Astra, is the most experienced pilot of the ATR 72 aircraft in Bangladesh.
Together, they have more than 12,500 hours of experience with the ATR 72 aircraft model.
The workshop was the first of its kind in Bangladesh and was free for all ATR pilots of the country working at any of the four airlines operating the aircraft type.
A total of 42 pilots from Air Astra, US-Bangla Airlines, Novoair, and NXT Air participated at the three workshop sessions (four hours each) at Air Astra Training Centre in Dhaka on May 14-15.
The sessions were highly interactive and the participants were thrilled to have Captain Magnar Nordal in person conducting these sessions along with Captain Saifullah.
Imran Asif, the CEO of Air Astra said: "We strive to maintain high safety standards, and believe in an inclusive approach to attain meaningful results, hence arranging workshops like this would go a long way in improving safety standards of the industry as a whole."
Captain Nordal also expressed himself saying: "This workshop was a very pleasant experience as Air Astra did not invite only their own pilots, but all ATR 72 pilots in the country."
"This cooperation between the airline companies is an example to follow. Sharing experiences with fellow pilots is always enriching for everybody involved, including me."
“I also had the pleasure to observe the inauguration flight from Dhaka to Saidpur. The flight crew demonstrated a very high level of skill and coordination. All in all, this was an experience I hope can be repeated soon," he added.
