The Deputy
General and Chief Executive Officer of the Civil Aviation Authority of Sri
Lanka H.M.C Nimalsiri in a stern email addressed to the Sri Lankan Airlines
Chief Executive Officer Kapila Chandrasena earlier, had intimated his
displeasure regarding the supposedly committed gross violation of the Air
Navigation Regulations and the associated violations of International Civil
Aviation Organization (ICAO) standards by certain pilots of the airline,
thereby threatening the safety of the airline’s operating of commercial flights
that carry passengers on board.
Nimalsiri’s
email refers to Pilots practicing abnormal and emergency situations on
commercial flights when these procedures should never be done with lives at
stake.
These maneuvers
must only be practiced under the watchful eyes of an Instructor and only in a
Flight Simulator, he reiterated.
His opening
paragraph stating this startling revelation and threatening the safety of our
national carrier Sri Lankan Airlines has raised many eye brows, but more
importantly raised the question by future travelers as to “how safe is it to
fly with Sri Lankan Airlines anymore?”.
His full
email sent in January 2015 reads as follows:
"Chief
Executive Officer,
Sri Lankan
Airlines.
Dear CEO,
This office
has information that some of the SriLankan pilots deactivate certain functional
and vital flight instruments/engines in flight on SriLankan flights engaged in
commercial passenger operations, with a view to getting an opportunity to practicing
certain abnormal and emergency conditions. If the above information is valid
and factual, such actions would not only amount to gross violation of the Air
Navigation Regulations and the associated ICAO international standards but also
pose a serious threat to flight safety.
If the
pilots need practicing abnormal and emergency situations of aircraft to gain
more handling experience, they shall use an appropriate simulator for such
purposes.
Kindly note
that simulating emergency conditions in commercial passenger flights is
entirely prohibited and such situations if detected would be dealt with very
seriously.
I shall
thank you to kindly bring this matter to the immediate notice of all flight
crewmembers, although majority of your pilot population is well experienced,
law binding, safety conscious and has a deeper sense of reasonability.
Yours
faithfully,
H.M.C.Nimalsiri,
Director
General of Civil Aviation and,
Chief
Executive Officer,
Civil
Aviation Authority of Sri Lanka
No.4,
Hunupitiya Road, Colombo 02.
Phone: +94
11 2358 802, Fax: + 94 11 2304 706"
The
seriousness of these blunders comes in the wake of the investigation of the
crashed Air Asia flight which operated from Surabaya to Singapore killing all
passengers and crew on board.
The initial
investigation of that crashed flight as indicated by a prominent newspaper’s
website indicates similar trends where our Pilots have been found to be
switching off the Initial Reference Systems (IRS) on board, sending the
aircraft into an “alternate law mode” requiring manual handling of the aircraft
to regain control of the machine in the sky.
AirlankaQuestionable
decisions taken by the airline’s senior management, combined with a colossal
amount of Pilot related incidents since of late, are the perfect ingredients
for a foreseeable disaster in the offing, if not nipped in the bud, as these
have now been detected at a very early stage.
Knowledgeable
air travelers have opted to choose other airlines for travel as a personal
safety precaution.
It is quite
understandable that Sri Lankan Airlines will suppress any information to avoid
sending panic waves among their intended air travelers, especially their ‘Fly
Smiles’ frequent flyer passengers.
For instance
sometime back Capt. Druvi Perera the now Chief Operations Officer, when in
command and training a First Officer failed to prevent an incident that took
place on landing in Chennai India then.
This is when
the aircraft that the current Head of Flight Operations Capt.Perera commanded,
skidded off the runaway and with it took away the some of the visual aided
lights firmly fitted on the airport’s tarmac, causing insurmountable damage to
the aircraft but more importantly incurring a huge cost to the airline in terms
of delay, re-routing of the passengers from Chennai, repair cost to the
aircraft etc.
He was
subsequently given a slap on the wrists and a negligible punishment, but more
strangely was promoted to the position of “Chief Operations Officer” a job he
still holds.
That post
never existed before, and was created especially for him by the former Chairman
Nishantha Wickramasinghe and the current CEO Kapila Chandrasena as more of a
political appointment.
TRIM (weight
& balance) issues on 4 Airbus A320 Aircraft
Further
shockingly an email sent to the entire Cabin Crew by Senaka De Soysa the
Inflight Services Manager (now sidelined to oversee the functions of Catering
& Support Services) have revealed that the airline has to increase an
additional 150 Kilos of weight in the forward section of certain aircraft to
balance its weight for takeoff.
The contents
of De Soysa’s email sent to the entire Cabin Crew on the 23rd January 2015 is
as follows:
Dear all,
When the
load in BC is low, the weight balance on the aircraft for take-off gets
affected and is a safety concern. To remedy this, 2 sales carts will be loaded
in the BC galley, in place of 2 tray carts during take-off. We have requested
SLCS to do the loading in this manner. Please extend your fullest support in
ensuring the take-off weight is maintained, by positioning the tray carts back
in the BC galley, ONLY AFTER TAKE OFF. This will be on selected flights only,
on a day to day basis.(Basically we need 2 heavy carts in front and 2 light
carts at the aft for take-off).
Regards,
Senaka De
Soysa
Manager
Inflight Service (Catering & Support Services) (Inflight Service Support) |
SriLankan Airlines Ltd.Mktg – Service Delivery, Airline Centre, Bandaranaike
International Airport, Katunayake, Sri Lanka.
Tel: +94
19733 2648 | Mobile: +94 [Edited out by CT]
| Fax: +94 19733 0094(0)197335262
E-Mail:
senaka.desoysa@srilankan.com | Web: www.srilankan.com
Airline
sources who wished to remain anonymous revealed that four particular narrow
bodied Airbus aircraft arrived with its previously designed seat configuration
of 12 Business Class Seats and 138 Economy Class Seats.
However the
airline in its quest to increase revenue, decided to fit eight extra seats in
Business Class and in the process removed three rows of seats in the forward
section of the Economy Cabin for this purpose.
The new seat
configuration reads 20 Business Class and 120 Economy seats, which ever since
the reconfiguration of the interior cabin took place has been a worrying safety
concern for the airline and hence De Soysa’s email to all Cabin Crew.
The same
airline sources have now further revealed that they are contemplating to remove
four seats in Business Class to counter this issue.
The aircraft
causing this concern are registered as 4R ABM, 4R ABN, 4R ABO, 4R ABP.
Passengers
will never know if they are travelling on any of these aircraft and can only
find out once they get to the departure gate just prior to boarding the
aircraft for departure.
By simply
looking at the aft (back) of the aircraft’s fuselage (body) and toward the base
of the tail they could then identify the painted aircraft registration code as
mentioned before.
Some of the
commonly known pilot related incidents are found below even though they are
supposedly been hushed up.
Incident 1:
Pilot trying to simulate an engine failure on takeoff by closing the throttle
and thereby mishandling the aircraft, subsequently forgetting to retract the
landing gear after take-off on a Trichy to Colombo flight.
Repercussions:
Due to the excessive fuel burn caused thereafter due to the ensuing ‘drag’ the
aircraft had no choice but return to Trichy. The inquiry which is dragging on
has had the Civil Aviation Authority impounding the licenses of both the
Captain and First Officer.
Captain in
command: Capt. Anupama Pathirane
Questions
raised by passengers: What guarantee could the airline provide that this very
same pilot who forgot to retract the landing gear would put down the landing
gear for the landing in the future?
Incident 2:
Flight Deck unmanned due no pilot seated at controls in flight
Situation:
Captain in command on a short training flight decides to go to the toilet
leaving the new Female Trainee First Officer by herself. The Trainee First
Officer detecting bad weather ahead leaves her seat to go look for the captain
leaving the Flight Deck unmanned an in auto pilot mode.
Captain in
command: Capt. Kosala Ekanayake
Questions
raised by passengers: What would have happened if the Flight Deck door got shut
leaving both pilots locked out of the Flight Deck?
Incident 3:
Pilots deactivating certain functional and vital flight instruments / engines
midair on Sri Lankan Airline’s commercial flights and practicing abnormal and
emergency conditions as against the laws of ICAO.
Situation:
Pilots in Command have been found to be switching off “Air Data Reference
Systems” (ADR) switches In Flight on Commercial Flights which sends the
aircraft into an alternate law mode. These procedures are only practiced during
training and in the Flight Simulator and never on a commercial flight.
Questions
raised by passengers: Why are Standard Operating Procedures (SOP’s) not
followed at all times during commercial flights?
Incident 4:
Resignation of First Officer Haren Samivel
Situation:
Crew Resource Management (CRM) has been compromised as the harmony between the
pilots is not healthy at present due to the resignation of First Officer Haren
Samivel. It is alleged that he was racially abused by a certain set of pilots
with political influence to the point of being verbally abused, verbally
threatened and even being physically assaulted finally.
Questions
raised by passengers: It has been proven through many safety mediums that many
previous accidents and incidents could have been prevented if proper CRM
standards were maintained.
Incident 5:
Pilot apprehended after being detected to be under the influence of alcohol
departing London Heathrow.
Situation:
Blood tests reveal he was over the permitted limit. However the investigation
is still going on and eight months later the First Officer sits at home without
pay. Rumour has it that he may be found guilty for bringing the airline into
disrepute and eventually terminated. But the biggest drawback for the airline
officials to do so is because the Flight Operations Manual (FOM) has
contradicting information about the termination clause for this type of
offence.
Incident 6:
Captain in command departs London Heathrow without the proper take off
calculations disregarding the Standard Operating Procedures and endangering the
aircraft and passengers.
Situation:
He is reprimanded for this offence as United Kingdom (UK) tabloids highlight
this Pilot error and further it was highlighted by British Aviation
Authorities. The Captain was eventually made to fly as a “Cruise Pilot” as a
punishment. His punishment probably did not go the full distance as for his
good luck his niece is married to Johnstone Fernando the Minister in the former
Rajapaksa Government.
Captain in
Command: Wendall Kelaart
Comment from
a former passenger who never flies Sri Lankan Airlines anymore:
It is quite
obvious that there are some serious concerns pertaining to this airline not
only from a loss making operation but on a more serious flight safety note.
Compromising
the safety of the aircraft, the passengers and crew is of grave concern and
reports like these only highlight what would usually be hidden away from us
passengers.
It would be
interesting to see if the new Chairman Ajit Dias would first ensure that his
passengers are safe before he could even clean his house is a question is a
question that would be anticipated with eventual answers.
I for one
would not be contributing towards our national carrier even though I have been
a frequent flyer and have generated colossal revenue to the airline since I
have been based in Dubai for many decades.
What baffles
me even further is that many current pilots of Sri Lankan Airlines are clueless
about some of these incidents. Punishing offenders for committing an offence is
one thing but sharing of knowledge and increasing CRM among Pilots is the key
to prevent further disasters.
By not
sharing this information through their Safety Department the Flight Operations
Department is actually committing a more heinous crime, which is more of a
worrying concern, as professional airlines usually would do otherwise.
S. S from
Dubai
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