DHAKA: A Biman investigation has uncovered a pervasive culture of impunity and systemic licence fraud, showing that senior captains advanced their careers through forged flight records.
This lack of accountability appears to extend beyond paperwork. Pilots remained in the cockpit despite a near-catastrophic operational error or proven cases of sexual harassment.
The impetus for these revelations came early this year. Biman formed a committee on January 28 to investigate five of its pilots over forged flying licences.
The committee, which submitted its report on February 3, found that two senior aviators — Captain Abdul Basit Mahtab and Captain Abdur Rahman Akhand — wilfully submitted forged documents to obtain licences. It also pointed out discrepancies in the licences of three others.
The probe body recommended grounding four of the five pilots while the investigation was ongoing. The authorities, however, allowed the pilots to fly, disregarding immediate safety concerns.
The gravity of the findings triggered an external enquiry — the Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh (CAAB) initiated its own audit of the pilots.
However, barely a month after the launch of the audit, CAAB transferred the only official with the technical expertise to probe the complex licensing fraud.
At the centre of the investigation is Mahtab, who was elected president of Bangladesh Airline Pilots’ Association in February 2025.
He was tasked with advocating for the rights, welfare and development of the country’s commercial pilots and upholding aviation safety standards in the national carrier.
“Captain Mahtab obtained a Commercial Pilot Licence (CPL) in 1993. He served in the Bangladesh Air Force but was suspended from conversion/advanced flying training owing to his slow progress,” said the Biman probe report.
“Captain Mahtab’s flying certificate, issued on April 16, 1992, shows that at the time of obtaining his CPL, he had only 33 hours and 45 minutes of solo/pilot-in-command experience, including three hours and 30 minutes on the Bell 206-L4 helicopter; the remainder of his flying time was as a co-pilot (listed as dual hours in the official BAF record).”
Referring to another document dated June 10, 1992, the report pointed out that a certificate issued by the BAF Academy in Jashore shows that Mahtab had accumulated 155 hours as pilot-in-command (solo hours). “It directly contradicts the other flying hours certificate issued by the same officer from the same academy on April 16, 1992.”
The BAF Academy certificate with the increased flying hours was issued several months after he had been taken out of flying.
The Daily Star has independently verified Mahtab’s documents.
A document signed by Group Captain Ataur Rahman, the then Air Secretary, on April 25, 1992, stated, “This is to certify that M Abdul Basit Mahtab was commissioned (on probation) in flying branch as a pilot officer on January 3, 1991. He was suspended from subsequent conversion and advance flying training owing to his slow progress. Since the officer was on probation, his commission was terminated as a normal procedure.” They cleared him for commercial flying.
In his application to CAAB for obtaining CPL, Mahtab said, “I got released from Bangladesh Air Force (BAF) on April 1, 1992, due to my unwillingness to serve in Ground Branch. In BAF, I have flown a total of 210 hours and 30 minutes…”
He submitted his flying hours certificate along with the application dated May 3, 1992.
A document signed by the then director of flight standards and regulations at CAAB on May 9, 1992, noted that Mahtab had 33 hours and 45 minutes of solo flying. “It should be stated here that no application with such a short tenure of service in the Air Force and so little flying experience has ever been received by this authority before.”
Even when he applied for an instrument rating, he had half the required flying hours. An instrument rating is an advanced qualification that allows a pilot to fly an aircraft solely by reference to the cockpit instruments in cases of poor visibility or adverse weather.
“Upon reviewing his experience, it appears that, according to the Civil Aviation Rules, he must complete 15 hours of flying within six months from the date of application. In this case, it is seen that Mr Mahtab has only seven hours and five minutes of flying time. Therefore, issuing the rating in this situation seems to be against the regulations. However, the chairman may relax this requirement at his discretion,” said a document signed on March 23, 1993.
A CAAB member (operations and planning) allowed a waiver for him in “public interest” the same day.
Since then, Mahtab has renewed his CPL year after year and passed all his checks and tests.
“It should be mentioned that CPL is the starting point for all pilots’ commercial airline flying careers. All other licences and ratings are obtained later. As such, any issues with CPL negatively impact all further licences and ratings and calls into question the validity of all other licences and ratings,” said the Biman probe report, concluding that Mahtab wilfully provided false documents to obtain his licence.
When asked, Mahtab claimed that the investigation was biased.
“We have filed a complaint with Biman, stating that this investigation is not fair. This was done to vilify Biman and destroy the aviation industry. We were not even interviewed by the committee,” he told The Daily Star yesterday.
In an interview with this newspaper earlier last year, he had said that his flying hours were less on paper than his actual experience because flying hours are counted differently in the air force.
“During civil flying, taxi hours are counted as flying whereas this is not the case with jet fighters. I believe I have the required hours,” he had pointed out.
The Biman probe also found preliminary evidence against Rahman.
“Allegations against Captain Abdur Rahman Akhand were previously known, and Biman Bangladesh Airlines sent a letter to CAAB on August 6, 2025, seeking clarification from the regulator. To date, no reply has been received from CAAB regarding this issue,” said the report.
Terming the allegations “very serious in nature”, it said the documents “allege a gross violation of the law” and indicate that he “wilfully provided false documents” to obtain a licence.
The Daily Star had previously reported on this pilot after scrutinising his flying hours.
According to this newspaper’s own scrutiny, at the time of getting his CPL, he had 26 hours and five minutes of flying time as a pilot-in-command unsupervised and another 128 hours and 30 minutes of flying time under supervision. All these hours were logged during his time in the air force.
A legal notice sent to Biman on December 14, 2025, stated that in addition to his flying hours in the air force, he had logged seven hours and 40 minutes at the Bangladesh Flying Club, when he applied for CPL.
According to aviation rules, a candidate must log 250 flying hours, of which 70 hours must be unsupervised, while the rest can be completed under supervision. In case of failure to log 70 hours of unsupervised flying, the candidate has to fly 500 hours as a pilot-in-command under supervision.
Rahman flew neither 70 hours unsupervised nor the alternative of 500 hours under supervision.
The legal notice said Rahman had submitted a forged No Objection Certificate (NOC) while leaving his previous job at Regent Airways. Dated December 20, 2014, a Regent Airways letter attached to the legal notice said Rahman had not obtained any such certificate before joining Biman.
“It is assumed that they all have submitted fake and improper NOC to your company which falls within the purview of a criminal offence,” wrote Regent.
The probe body concluded that Rahman wilfully provided false documents to obtain his licence.
The investigation into administrative fraud took on a new sense of urgency following a near-catastrophic operational error. While Biman’s committee was investigating Rahman’s licence, he taxied a Biman aircraft onto an incorrect runway in Guangzhou, China — an error that could lead to a fatal accident.
A letter sent by Biman’s counterpart in Guangzhou said the incident occurred during take-off at 8:13am on January 23, 2026, at Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport.
The air traffic control “directed it to taxi along the standard Yellow 3, waiting outside Y20. The crew acknowledged correctly,” read the letter.
Despite confirming the route verbally, the pilot went down the wrong path. “At 08:14 am, the controller noticed the aircraft had executed a right turn onto Taxiway Q instead of the required left turn.
The controller immediately halted the aircraft and inquired about the reason. The crew responded that they had misread the standard taxi route,” it stated.
The Civil Aviation Administration of China demanded that Biman urgently investigate the error, threatening to cancel Biman’s slot allocation at the Guangzhou airport. Biman formed a probe committee on February 22.
A couple of months before the incident, Rahman was shortlisted by Biman for the position of deputy chief of flight operations and flight safety department.
Another aviator, Captain Anisur Rahman, also failed to meet licensing standards, according to the probe report.
“Allegations against Captain Anis are that he received his CPL licence with [flying] hours which were below the requirement at the time of his licence issuance. A logbook copy is provided showing him having 162 hours 40 minutes only from the Bangladesh Air Force, which is less than the required 200 hours for CPL prevalent at that time.”
The report said it was not clear whether “he wilfully provided false documents to obtain his licence”. It, however, said he had fewer flying hours than needed.
When contacted, Anis said that following his stint in the air force, he logged hours at a flying academy before getting his licence, and that made up the 200 hours.
The committee also investigated Captain Yousuf Mahmud for licence fraud but could not find anything conclusive.
However, Yousuf’s time at Biman has been marked by allegations of sexual harassment of cabin crew members.
He was served a show-cause letter on March 11, 2025, over sexual harassment in the cockpit.
On April 13, 2025, a departmental case was filed against him, and the probe report was submitted on November 5, 2025, concluding that there was undeniable proof of sexual harassment.
The report said the pilot touched an air hostess inappropriately; made unprofessional comments while she was serving beverages, initiated conversations on topics unsuitable for the workplace, forced a piece of fruit into her mouth and pursued her for a date during their layover.
The pilot refuted all the allegations, but his co-pilot, a witness, said the pilot’s behaviour amounted to sexual harassment.
In a testimony, the co-pilot said that Yousuf, in addition to verbal harassment, had forcefully pushed food into the mouth of an air hostess and grabbed her hands.
Alarmingly, while the investigation was ongoing, Biman allowed Yousuf to conduct flights, owing to a “shortage of pilots in the Haj season”.
The other pilot investigated was Captain Fariel Bilkis Ahmed, with the committee pointing out improper logging of flying hours. “It needs to be assessed whether this was a simple error or a deliberate attempt to increase the hours.”
It recommended grounding Fariel while the verification was being completed.
When asked, Fariel said the probe committee worked with fabricated evidence, and that the flying hours in her logbook accurately represent her flying experience.
“I was never called or interviewed by this committee. They did not ask me for evidence,” Fariel told The Daily Star.
Rahman and Yousuf could not be reached despite multiple attempts over phone and WhatsApp.
When contacted, Biman Managing Director Humaira Sultana said, “We wrote to CAAB but are yet to get any response from them. That is why we still do not know what action we should take against the pilots.”
Boshra Islam, the spokesperson for Biman, said they are waiting for CAAB’s audit before deciding on any action.
While Biman claims to be waiting for CAAB, the regulator’s own process appears to have been derailed from within. Transfer documents show that just a month into the audit, CAAB sidelined the investigator, moving him to a largely redundant administrative role.
On March 12, Saiful Haq Shah, director of personnel licensing, was transferred and attached to the chairman’s office as an “officer on special duty”.
Sources confirmed that Saiful was the only investigator in the division with the technical qualifications needed to oversee licensing.
Asked whether the move would compromise the integrity of the entire external audit, the CAAB Chairperson, Air Vice Marshal Md Mostafa Mahmood Siddiq, said the investigation into the pilots’ anomalies is being conducted transparently, and Saiful’s transfer will not affect the process.
He, however, admitted that CAAB could not complete the investigation within the stipulated two-week timeframe.
“Once completed, we will make the report public,” he added. - The Daily Star/ANN
