Questions raised over training jets flying above crowded city

In the wake of the tragic crash of an Air Force training jet in Uttara today (21 July), aviation experts and public figures have raised serious concerns over the practice of flying military training jets over densely populated urban areas. 

Selim Raihan, executive director of Sanem, and Novoair Managing Director Mofizur Rahman have questioned the logic and safety of such flight paths, calling for an urgent reassessment of current airspace policies.

"Why would an Air Force training aircraft fly over such a crowded city? What are the rules in this regard or can anyone just do whatever they want?" he wrote in a Facebook post this evening. 

Selim Raihan also announced that Sanem is ready to provide immediate support for victims through blood donation.

For urgent blood donations, he requested to contact Asibur Rahman Anjan at 880 1708-523454.

In another post in LinkedIn, private airline Novoair Managing Director Mofizur Rahman called for an urgent reassessment of military flight operations over densely populated areas, saying the need to relocate such activities was "long overdue."

"It was long overdue a call to shift military flights, which is inherently risky, from so densely populated a city. Must we not think of alternative place for airbase?" he said.

Mofizur Rahman, also general secretary of Aviation Operators Association Bangladesh, wrote, "My heart burns with the flames @ milestones college! So many kids burns to death & injured. Promising lives lost of the future! A promising pilot also lost his life."

Captain Abdullah, a commercial pilot who has served with several airlines including the national carrier Biman Bangladesh Airlines, also voiced his concerns on social media. 

He wrote, "In densely populated areas around the world — especially where there is only one runway handling both domestic and international flights — it's rare to see air force bases nearby. I have landed in major European airports like Heathrow, Frankfurt, Paris, and Brussels, yet I have never seen fighter jets stationed there."

As of this evening, at least 20 dead and 171 hospitalised as a Bangladesh Air Force (BAF) training aircraft (F-7 BGI), which took off at 1:06pm today (21 July), crashed into a building inside the Milestone College campus at Diabari in the capital's Uttara and caught fire following an explosion – leading to multiple casualties.

Firefighting units are still working at the scene while ambulances and metro trains are transporting victims to the hospitals.

ISPR also confirmed that the aircraft's pilot, identified as Flight Lieutenant Md Towkir Islam of the BAF, succumbed to his injuries.