The front wheel (nose wheel or landing gear) of an Air India aircraft broke at Dhaka airport on Saturday night after being hit by a ground handling pushcart. As a result, the Airbus 320 aircraft has been grounded. The Dhaka-Delhi flight has been cancelled.
It is believed that the incident was caused due to the pushcart operator's 'negligence and carelessness.' The pushcart operator has already been given a punitive transfer. Biman Bangladesh Airlines MD and CEO Safiqur Rahman has said that a committee has been formed to assess the extent of damage to the Air India aircraft from the pushcart collision.
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It should be noted that ground handling agencies provide various services from the time each aircraft lands until take-off, including cleaning, loading and unloading passengers' luggage, and installing stairs. After passengers board, the aircraft is pulled back slightly using a pushcart. For this, the pushcart must be connected to the nose wheel. The allegation is that on Saturday night, after 126 passengers boarded the Air India aircraft, the pushcart operator's mistake during the pullback process caused it to hit the nose wheel, breaking it. The passengers were disembarked and taken to a hotel. On Sunday morning, some of them were sent on a Mumbai flight. The ground handling agency whose pushcart caused this mishap is under Biman Bangladesh itself.
