Looks like some serious finger wagging and pointing going on in
Bangladesh article reproduced below
Pilots, flight engineer suspended
Rescue work may start today, domestic flights resume
Staff Correspondent
The
government yesterday removed Captain Selim from the post of chief of safety after he crash-landed the DC-10 aircraft in Chittagong on Friday and also suspended him, the co-pilot and the flight engineer.
Sources at Biman Bangladesh Airlines said Captain Selim, First Officer Captain Rezwan and the Indonesian flight engineer have been suspended.
The Biman flight, BG-048, flyinng from Dubai with 215 people on board belly-landed and skidded off the runway at Shah Amanat International Airport at 8:40am on Friday "due to technical glitch".
A source said Captain Selim's lack of expertise in landing the aircraft "has been proven". Officials at the flight operation tower in Chittagong had repeatedly told him to correct the position of the aircraft that was not in the right position for landing, the source added.
The rescue work of the aircraft could not begin until yesterday afternoon in absence of representatives from the supplier of the aircraft, US aviation firm Pegasus, and the Singapore-based insurance company, who were expected at the scene of the crash by yesterday morning, sources said.
However, the rescue operations may start if the firms gave their go-ahead.
The five-member committee formed to find the cause of the accident yesterday got down to business. It has collected blood samples of the pilots within six hours of the incident on Friday to examine presence of alcohol in their blood.
According to sources, Captain Selim took off from Dubai for Dhaka via Chittagong although as the captain of the flight he did not have enough experience to fly such aircraft.
Allegations are there that he had been binge-drinking when not on duty and the Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh (Caab) did not take any action against him despite having been informed of the excesses.
On February 2 last year, a
written complaint was lodged against Captain Selim where it was said that if he was allowed to fly, accidents could occur any time. But Caab did not act against him this time too, sources said.
Domestic flight operations at Chittagong airport, meanwhile, resumed yesterday, some 28 hours into the accident, with three Biman and as many GMG flights taking off. The first Biman flight, scheduled for an 8:20am take-off, left at 1:24pm, while the other two departed at 3:33pm and 6:10pm.
International flights were unlikely to start before late this afternoon, airport sources said.
Inspection of the damaged aircraft is complete and rescuers from army, airforce, Chittagong Port Authority (CPA) and railway have been kept ready to start the rescue operation at any time.
The armed forces would run the rescue operations, while railway and CPA would provide the logistics. The logistics required to remove the aircraft might not be needed if it is declared completely damaged. In that case, the aircraft would be dismantled, the sources added.
Taking into account
DD's post above it would appear that the old adage
where there is smoke there is fire may apply
