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National carrier rapped for safety lapses
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Civil Aviation Director General H.M.C. Nimalasiri has rapped the country’s national carrier, SriLankan Airlines, over what he calls its pilots deactivating “certain functional and vital flight instruments/engines” in flights engaged in commercial operations. In other words, they were trying to practise simulated conditions with passengers on board.
This, he has said in a note to the national carrier’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Kapila Chandrasena, is “with a view to getting an opportunity to practising certain abnormal and emergency conditions.”
Mr. Nimalasiri has noted that if his information “is valid and factual, such actions would not only amount to gross violation of the Air Navigation Regulations and the associated ICAO (International Civil Aviation Organisation) international standards but also pose serious threat to flight safety.” A Civil Aviation Department source said that Director General Nimalasiri was referring to a reported incident during an Airbus A330 flight in the Indian sector. The source said the pilot had shut down engines in a bid to simulate an emergency situation for the benefit of colleagues.
Another instance, the source said, was switching off IRS or the Initial Reference System – a computer backed equipment which calculates the location of the aircraft. Such exercises are routinely conducted for pilots during simulator training periodically in order to obviate the need to do so during commercial flights.
“If the pilots need practising 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 situation if detected would be dealt with very seriously,” Director General Nimalasiri has warned. He has asked that this matter be brought to the notice of all flight crew members, “although the majority of your pilot population is well experienced, law abiding, safety conscious and has a deeper sense of reasonability.”
The source said another matter now under investigation is what is being described as a serious matter. When an Airbus A 330 was cruising at some 35,000 feet in the Indian sector, the pilot had left the cockpit. It is not immediately clear whether it was for a biological reason or otherwise.
When the trainee co-pilot, a lady, observed bad weather on the instrument panel, she had left the cockpit and gone looking for the captain. Fortunately, the cockpit door did not shut. If it did, the aeroplane would have flown without any control until its fuel ran out.
After the attacks on the twin towers in New York in 2001, cockpit doors in all aircraft are secured with combination locks. They are so strong and tamper proof that opening them from outside has been made almost impossible. SriLankan Airline source remained tight-lipped over the incident. One source said that the lady trainee has had her services terminated but there was no formal confirmation.
Hasna Maznavi, right, and a friend hang banners for the Women's Mosque of America's first service this week. Pic courtesy The Wall Street Journal
Lanka’s Hasna builds first US mosque for women
A 29-year-old film school graduate, Hasna Maznavi, whose parents are both from Sri Lanka, has set up a new women-only mosque in southern California, described as the only such mosque in the United States.
The idea was conceived with support from a fellow Muslim Sana Muttalib, a 31 -year-old lawyer, who says the traditional separation between men and women is more than physical.
Ms. Maznavi says when she goes for her prayers, even during off hours; the few men in the main hall would gently point her upstairs to a separate area for women.
“I started to feel unwelcome,” she told The Wall Street Journal, spearheading a major breakthrough for gender empowerment in the Muslim community in the United States.
Speaking from the new mosque, Ms. Maznavi said: “This is a place where Muslim women can come and experience inspiration and then return with that to their communities.”
Hasna’s father is a physician who migrated from Sri Lanka to the US in the 1970s. Hasna was born and bred in California.
Recalled envoy’s appeal fails
A leading business tycoon made an unsuccessful attempt to persuade Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera not to recall an envoy posted to a country where the West meets the East.
When the answer was a firm “no, that cannot be done”, it had been conveyed to the envoy in question.
Angered by the move, the fair lady sent a set of files addressed directly to the Foreign Minister. They contained inventories of items at her residency.
Samaraweera laughed at having to open the package and declared “this should have been sent to the Ministry.”
Is MR steering away from SLFP?
Is former President Mahinda Rajapaksa veering away from the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP)?
He is expected to appear at a political rally organised by a potential alliance including the Mahajana Eksath Peramuna (MEP) and the National Freedom Front (NFF). This will be his first public appearance the after the Presidential elections on January 8.
The event will take place on February 18 at the permanent stage outside the supermarket building in Nugegoda.
The event is being arranged by left parties, the Mahajana Eksath Peramuna (MEP) and the National Freedom Front (NFF).
Kshenuka sent to Bangkok
The External Affairs Ministry’s former secretary, Kshenuka Seneviratne, has been named Sri Lanka’s Ambassador to Thailand.
Her previous postings include a term as Sri Lanka’s High Commissioner in the United Kingdom.
Bats bowl down Ravi on pre-Budget night
Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake complained there were bats in his office in the Ministry of Finance.
Little wonder, when the office had not been used by his predecessor, former President Mahinda Rajapaksa. He operated from ‘Temple Trees’.
The night before he presented his ‘mini budget’ on January 29, Mr. Karunanayake spent late hours in his office room.
“The bats were flying all over,” he complained to a friend. To make matters worse, he said, the curtains were dirty and the floor had to be mopped.
Concrete bunker at President’s house
A little known fact about Janadipathi Mandiraya (or the President’s House) occupied then by former President Mahinda Rajapaksa has now surfaced.
During the separatist war with Tiger guerrillas, fear of air attacks led to the construction of a heavily concrete re-inforced underground structure in the premises.
Of course, there was no need to use it since there were no air attacks on the building.
Navin tackles issue of Rajapaksa’s son
The new Tourism and Sports Minister, Navin Dissanayake, talked tough when he and his officials met members of the Rugby Union on Friday.
He asked who had issued instructions that the son of former President Mahinda Rajapaksa should not come for rugby football practices. Rajapaksa’s coach Asanga Seneviratne had pointed out it had come from the Commander of the Navy. Minister Dissanayake phoned Vice Admiral Jayantha Perera and posed the question. He replied that he was asked by Defence Secretary D.M.U.D. Basnayake.
At first the Minister wanted to phone Basnayake. He later said instead, he would get in touch with the Minister of State for Defence, Ruwan Wijewardene. He rang him but found he could not be reached at that moment. Minister Dissanayake said he would meet Mr. Wijewardene and raise issue. “Neither the President nor the Prime Minister can stop them from coming for practices. I am the Minister in charge,” he exhorted. He said there were political differences with the Rajapaksas but that should not be brought into sports.
Iron lady in battle for bar licence
This battle is not for votes. It is one for a bar licence for the parental mansion, now a boutique hotel fit for royalty. The local ‘iron lady’ is lobbying hard. Officials, however, explained that the venue is close to a girl’s school.
Pat came her sharp retort. “What about the place that serves food fit for Maharajas. It is just across the road from a leading boy’s school. How did they get the licence?”
That has got the officialdom in a spin. Now, the decision has been left in the hands of ‘higher ups’.