MELANCHOLY OF WINGS
FAITH IN REGULATION PREVENTS
PRICELESS CATASTROPHJE
- Wing Commander Munim Khan Majlish,psc

(Blue Angel 2009)

1. Mahan was lured into deep fascination for last few days. His little world of imagination had been decorated with sketches of immense colours, multi dimensional shades and clever illustrations. The tiny sphere of his drawing book was blossoming with great excitements, dreams and passions. The day was nearing when he was going to experience bird’s feelings next weekend. “Oh! I must express my gratitude to baba. He must be the best father in the universe. Will I be able to meet the fairies in the cloud? Ah! Off course I will not miss to take the snap of this beautiful planet from bird’s eye view. Should I be able to overtake white sniper or the swift?” Dear readers, the dreams and passions of this innocent young lad all of a sudden stalled into disappointment and regret. The holiday trip to the amazing charming splendour of the night queen of the Middle East- Dubai was not as pleasant as it was imagined by our tiny fried.

2. Out pal used to cherish animating in the medium of air from his childhood. He did not have wings only that were required to enable him to manoeuvre in the air. His passionate ideas were ever enriched by watching movies, cartoons or playing video games and off course often encouraged by his aviator father. Categorically he was mostly inspired by the gossips of his father’s companions and social group. He never missed the occasion to augment his treasure while coming across of such kind hearted elderly associates. Mr Aviator also paid due respect to his son’s aspiration and had arranged holiday tour to Dubai during the school’s mid term vacation.

3. It was sunny clear sky of autumn’s morning on 01 July 2005 with smooth petals of white roses scattered all over the horizon. DC-10-30 aircraft carrying Mahan was proud to dive into the glorious atmosphere for surfing in the air with its loving buddy. Our little comrade was busy in comparing his imaginations with real feelings above the surface. The feelings of wings were dormant in his gene from the age of birds as they came before the mammals. Their aeroplane had reached over its destination ‘Chittagong Shah Amanat International Airport’ in time. DC-10-30 (BBC-048) departed Dubai in time and had been following the Airway B-465 maintaining higher altitude enroute. Confident and pretty senior captain of the aircraft had no problem in reaching destination (CTG VOR) and was executing instrument approach procedure (VOR-DME-ILS APP RWY-23) for landing. The visibility minimum was adequate to execute the approach. But, when the pilot declared inbound of the approach the aircraft was not in line with the centre line of the runway as seen by the Tower Controller Sqn Ldr Mominul Islam, ATC. It was approaching oblique and quite high for making a safe landing. About half of the runway was crossed when the aircraft was noticeably higher than the decision height. Pilot was time and again cautioned by the Air Traffic Controller to carry out a missed approach and execute instrument approach procedure once again. The apparently overconfident and proud captain felt otherwise and attempted to make an impossible endeavour. The result was not anything but skidding of the aircraft out of the runway and trampled in nearby swampy ground. The spirited wings of the white whale in the air just could not resist becoming disabled by its learned operator. Overlooking rules, procedures and advices by the air traffic controller and stick to self pride and reputation could only cause damages of millions to our beloved motherland. The brilliance of imaginations of our little friend had also stalled along with the flag carrier of his country. Within a flash of a moment a series of accounts that he had learned from the experiences of his father’s companions were only triggering his grey matter.

4. It was not the maiden instance that the nation had experienced an undesirable incidence at Chittagong Shah Amanat International Airport. It was just a fresh documentary in his reminiscence when uncle Maruf had described an event happened at Chittagong few days ago. This time the inclement weather was the troublemaker. Due to poor drainage system there used to be water logging at Chittagong Airport during rainy season. The wonderful water drainage system that was constructed by the British during the Second World War is either jammed due to poor maintenance, or blocked by mounting of unwise structures later on by our clever designers. Because of the logging of water the surface and shoulder of the runway sometimes become too slippery. It had been raining for last few days and the runway braking condition was not at its best as usual. The Air Traffic Controller had cautioned the confident pilot for not to attempt a landing in the rain in such condition. The brave and optimistic pilot did an accurate approach to the runway and completed landing. But the aircraft was not withdrawing its forward motion as it used to be. The Pilot-in-Command had applied hard brake to stop the aircraft on the slippery surface. However, the control elements of the sophisticated BATP could not avert itself from skidding out of the runway within seconds. The most economy domestic aircraft of the state was disabled into the nearby soft surface tearing off landing gears. Contentedly, all the passengers were safely evacuated and rescued by the Rescue and Fire Fighting (RFF) peoples; the brilliant future prospect of BAPT in Bangladesh could not be rescued any longer. Ignorance of the limitation of surface condition and outrageous maintenance system of the airfield movement areas had caused the destruction of valuable assets and as well as future prospects of the people of our beloved nation.

5. The nation was surprised to glimpse the main headlines in all the news papers to learn that Deputy Chief Martial Law Administrator Rear Admiral M A Khan had succumbed to cardiac arrest previous night. He just could not sustain shock of witnessing collapsed one of the national passenger airliners short of landing on the runway at Zia International Airport. Fokker Friendship (F-27) aircraft of Bangladesh Biman Corporation was coming from Sylhet with 80 passengers on board 14 October 1983. The pilot had taken weather briefing as usual before taking off. So, it did not astonish the pilot that the overhead weather was quite bad with thundering cloud. Cousin Anik taught Mahan that those black towering clouds are called as Cumulonimbus (CB) Cloud. They are the most dangerous clouds and always associated with heavy rain and stormy weather. Our valiant pilot with vast experience and knowledge decided to penetrate the weather and make landing. In the mean time the weather conditions deteriorated significantly. The visibility and the ceiling (cloud base) were fairly less than the required minima. They had failed to locate the runway in first attempt and carried out a missed approach procedure. The second effort to land was not dissimilar to their previous endeavour. The first female pilot of the subcontinent Ms Roksana took it as a challenge and adopted all her talent to make a safe landing. The nature thought otherwise. They could only reach undershoot of the runway and ditched into the stumpy land. Along with kind hearted Admiral the nation witnessed its first ever passenger Airliner’s crash causing casualty of all its occupants. It was another example of overlooking rules, procedures and advices by the air traffic controllers to divert to a safe airfield and stick to self confidence that had costs millions along with priceless children of a developing motherland.

6. History repeats, if we do not learn lessons from its consequences. Another Fokker Fellowship (F-28) aircraft made a forced landing short of the runway at Sylhet International Airport in 2007 when it had misjudged the landing place. Without following appropriate instrument approach procedure for landing the confident pilot approached the nearby lighted shelter of a night congregation miscalculating those as runway approach lights. Worthy pilots, crews and other people onboard were once again lucky to evade tragedy. There’s no short cut and assumption in aviation safety. Everything has to be accurate, precise and just. If we are driven by emotion and passion in handling such the most sophisticated know-how, we will only ending into deepest mishap.

7. Bangladesh Air Force had exhibited a spectacular aerobatic of different types of aircraft in the Independence Day parade in 26 March 2006. Exceptional agenda of this air show was the dazzling manoeuvres of contemporary fighter aircraft. When the courageous BAF pilot with forth generation MiG-29 passed over the spectators in very low altitude creating tremendous vibration in the atmosphere the heart of the nation also vibrated with pride for Bengali nationhood and for the glorious independence of the motherland. After the air show Mahan was astonished to hear about some stunning experiences of some senior fighter pilots who had been recollecting their past memories sitting as spectators. The sun was playing see saw taking cover of weather and cloud for last few days. The most unpredictable monsoon weather was prevailing in the country. The enthusiastic pilot could not resist their temptation for breathing in the higher atmosphere and decided to launch mission despite prevailing bad weather adjacent to airfield at Jessore. Four of the French made Fouga Magister-170 got airborne with some brave outstanding aviators. The nature did not acknowledge the devotion and bravery of these young fighters. The weather conditions had changed dramatically. It became completely overcast and started raining heavily accompanied with gusty wind. The frightening towering cloud was acting skilfully causing storm and thunder all over the atmosphere. Staging the most enthralling drama of their life two of the sub-sonic aircraft landed from opposite direction not knowing that they had crossed each other on ground on the runway in heavy downpour. One of them was not such privileged. Till his last effort he fought against the mighty unfriendly weather and ultimately had ditched into the ground. Hearts of deepest melancholy calm down a little bit when they had heard that the other fearless fighter could just diverted to nearby Issurdi Airport and hold in the air until the weather calmed down for a safe landing. The pre-flight weather briefing sometimes seems to be too boring and repetitive, but may cost precious lives when ignored.

8. The nation had been waiting long to witness the magnificent fly past by its celebrated Air Force on 16 December 1986. The winter foggy weather was not sufficiently friendly for a successful air show. Regardless of the weather restraint the fearless BAF pilots paid tribute to their commitment to the nation and decided to undertake an extreme difficult mission. The visibility was about 1 km to 1.5 km. It was assumed that the time they would come back for landing the atmosphere would be warmer with the rising sun and get cleared. BAF air combatant got airborne with more than 55 combat aircraft. It was not expected from the spectators to appreciate the difficulty faced by the aviators in the air. They had enjoyed the orderly display of fly past by the national carriers. They were not even aware that few of the fighters who were supposed to make several low passes over the viewers could not even locate the ground from 500 ft AGL. One of the most dramatic episodes of BAF operations commenced a few minutes later. The smoke section of fighters who were low on fuel could not locate the runway on final approach and carried out missed approachs. All the subsequent formations faced the similar situation on approach. BAF representative on ground were traumatized by the fear of losing most of its assets on that day. Leaders are born or tested in difficult situation. BAF leaders did not hesitate to take the correct decision in time. Immediately the subsonic fighter trainers of L-39 and T-37 sections were diverted to Jessore Airport. The fly past leader rightly exercised his wisdom and had asked all the pilots to extend down wind leg and make a wider approach for landing. He instructed to adhere to the instruction of Ground Control Approach (GCA) controller for alignment and subsequent landing. The last A-5 aircraft was switched off automatically on the tarmac. With the right decision in correct moment BAF aviators could celebrate another success of achieving their mission on the Victory Day of 2006. The tear of happiness shed in the Control Tower and GCA radar for successfully bringing down the brave BAF combatants matched the dew dropped from the eyes of winning air warriors at the tarmac.
9. The young brisling blood of Bengal air warrior feels thrilled whenever he could take off with his beloved F-6 fighter aircraft and test his strength. He went up the air with such spirited attitude and had been busy in testing his efficiency of aerial manoeuvre and combat tactics. While returning to nest the valiant bird sought homing to radar as he became disoriented with the ground for a while. Incidentally our eagle and another aircraft were following the same track in the air; one in the northward and the other on the southward. The radar controller, who was not tracking the aircraft before, without determining the position of our fighter thought the southward one to be his traffic and grave a northerly heading for homing to base. Our beloved pilot who was in the northern training area had gone further north, far away from the base. When the engines of his wings were unable to keep him floating anymore he ejected leaving his treasured organ. Today’s modern and friendly ‘Martin Breakers’ ejection system was not yet installed in all the fighters of Bangladesh Air Force. With partial chance of survival in case of ejection our courageous combatant did not have any hesitation to launch in the air for the cause of national service. He was so touched to leave his aircraft that we had also lost him in the air forever. Limitation of survival device, inefficiency of radar services along with partial disorientation had resulted total disorientation and catastrophe. The procedures are formulated after assessing numerous encounters. If we do not honour the efforts of our industrious predecessors we will only meet jeopardy and priceless losses.

10. Mahan and his cousin Risha were over enjoyed for last few days for specific reason. They had heard from the aviator uncles’ alliance that farmers cultivate different kinds of flowers in their fields in the bordering villages near Benapole. They had seen in the movie the bright yellow sparkle of vast sunflower fields. The charming greenish-yellow landscape of roadside mustered cultivation creates a melody and pleasing feelings in their innocent minds while travelling by highways. The immense greeneries and rivers of our stunning nature also occupy their imaginations and sensation. But they could not visualize vast areas full of multi-coloured flowers spreading their delicate fragrances attracting the neighbouring flatters. They had planned to visit one of those attractive sites soon. One day uncle Smarten had promised to take them there after coming back from flying in the afternoon. Mahan was also particularly jubilant to witness the spectacular display of combat aircraft and helicopters in these days. He knew that the fearless air warriors had been practicing their efficiency for the forthcoming air display for graduation fly past. He used to go roof top everyday in the morning and afternoon with his cousin Risha for sensing radiance of spectacular fly past practice by spirited wingmen.

11. Aviators use to take great preparation and safety measures for overcoming any eventualities in the air. Mahan knew that uncle Smarten was satisfied about their rehearsal and was confident for exhibiting an impressive air show this time. He had often heard uncle Smarten uttering “we can overcome any sorts of emergencies, unless someone hits me from the back”. It was a sunny winter morning of December 23rd in1993 with sweetie pleasing atmosphere. Flocks of men made machines were appearing in the horizon in section of fighter trainers Fouga Magistre-170, basic trainers PT-6 and Bell-206 helicopters. We can only relate this impressive sight with the flying skills of birds’ returning in flocks to their nests in late afternoon. Even the sky dwellers would pause for a while observing such a well organized air exhibition of BAF air warriors. All the participating wings passed over the airfield and returned for landing in sections. The leading section had joined initial and broke away the formation of three PT-6 aircraft. The leader had pitched out and turned right to join ‘down wind’ leg. Number-2, who was supposed to wait for five seconds before pitching out, had miscalculated the timing and made an early right turn. The integral part of the formation that had been flying together so far made a detrimental air collision. Wing of the leading aircraft was cut into peaces by the propeller of number-2 and both fell into the earth at once. The utterance of uncle Smarten who had reminded Mahan to get ready for the trip just before he took off as fly past leader, occurred practically so cruelly that we never expected that. Constant vigilance and strictly adherence to regulations can never be relaxed even for a moment in the air. The dreams of Mahan, commitment of some great air combatants, prospects of a nation- all perished with the demise of our treasure fighters.

12. Sometimes we are astonished to witness the sincerity and seriousness of our aviators for maintaining the correct procedures, what they call ‘check list’. It is indeed the philosophy of the holy universe. We do not find any deviation of the rules of this enormous space system. All the elements of our solar system are following the set pattern all the time. Any divergence from the right path will only cause imbalance and disaster. Such principles are equally applicable in aviation. If we do not be appropriate in implementing the correct procedures we will only invite injuries, losses of precious aviators and assets of millions of a developing nation. Faith in regulations will allow us to achieve the excellence and prevent priceless catastrophe.