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The debt-ridden national carrier, Sri Lankan Airlines (UL), was in the news this week not on the usual focus of how many billions of rupees it is losing every year but on the conduct of two of its pilots who, according to the pilots themselves, narrowly averted a mid-air disaster.

Media reports, including the Daily Mirror, indicated how the UL504 pilots flying an Airbus A330-300 registered as 4R-ALM, ignored Turkish air traffic control’s (ATC) request to climb 2,000 feet from 33,000 feet to 35,000 feet as another flight–a British Airways Boeing 777-200 registered as G-VIIG flight BA105–was closing in on the UL’s flight path at the same altitude, on Monday. The two aircraft were heading across Germany and Romania before crossing the Black Sea passing over the Eastern part of Turkey. Both aircraft were heading for Dubai.

Flight tracking shows BA105 suddenly climbing 2,000 feet and skewing slightly off course. Is BA now trying to take credit for the evasive action? Either way, why the Turkish ATC did not spot the BA flight when it asked UL to climb is a question that needs an answer. SriLankan Airlines is reported to have asked for an investigation, but this was not confirmed.

The Sri Lankan Airlines flight UL504 with 275 people on board was en route from London Heathrow (LHR) to Bandaranaike International Airport (CMB) while the British Airways jet was heading for Dubai. The confidential report compiled by the UL crew over the incident was also leaked to social media.

A veteran commercial pilot said modern flights like the Air Bus 330-300 have state-of-the-art communication and advanced radar facilities to track the air movements up to a thirty mile radius while flying. While downplaying the incident, he pointed out that this is why pilots are subjected to continuous training and more flying hours to ensure the safety of the passengers. Well trained pilots help.

“SriLankan confirms that UL504 was not at risk of a mid-air collision with another aircraft at any point. The vigilance of the pilots and the state-of-the-art communication and surveillance system on board the aircraft enabled safe passage for UL504,” the airline said in a statement while commending the timely action of the pilots operating UL504.

Tourism sector stakeholders meet with the President (above)  and (below)  with the Prime Minister

Meeting after meeting, order after order but little is happening

Sri Lanka is in a crisis and our President and Prime Minister are convening meeting after meeting, issuing order after order, appointing committee after committee and publicising all of these via tweets and media statements.

Last Friday, a progress review meeting on the status of the country’s tourism sector was held at the Presidential Secretariat. It was chaired by President Gotabaya Rajapaksa. Subject minister Harin Fernando was notably missing from the meeting. He was in London.

On Tuesday, a similar meeting with relevant stakeholders of the tourism sector was held at the Prime Minister’s Office with the subject minister in attendance. Premier Ranil Wickremesinghe directed officials to prepare a plan to attract tourists from India with the re-opening of air-sea transport services from the North.

During a meeting held on the food crisis situation in the country at the PM’s office, the Premier appointed a committee headed by Nimal Lanza to look into the issue and submit a report within two weeks.

Meanwhile, former United National Party (UNP) leaders who were in their brief retirement phase following the electoral setback of the party also returned to state affairs with the appointment of their leader as PM.

BJP functionary  in low key visit, meets President and PM

The talk of the town in Colombo’s diplomatic circles these days is a low key visit by a key influential official of India’s Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS)–the ideologue movement behind the ruling Bharathiya Janatha Party (BJP)–to Colombo recently.

Ram Madhav, a senior RSS official and the BJP’s National General Secretary reportedly met President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and Premier Ranil Wickremesinghe during his recent visit.

Since he is not a new face for those in Colombo, the timing of the visit raises the eyebrows of many as the Government came under severe criticism over granting two massive renewable energy projects to India’s Adani group following controversial comments made by the former Ceylon Electricity Board Chairman, when he testified before the Committee on Public Enterprises (COPE).

Mr Madhav visited Sri Lanka during the previous government led by former Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa as well but at that time the Indian dignitary was more interested in setting up Sri Lanka’s version of the BJP based in Jaffna. but the move failed to secure popular support. The ruling Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) chief organiser Basil Rajapaksa publicly said at the time he wanted to model the SLPP on the lines of the BJP – and the Chinese Communist Party.

Fuel crisis hits the heart; specialists restrict operations

The ongoing fuel crisis is severely affecting essential services including the healthcare sector. Many medical professionals are unable to report for duty due to the non-availability of fuel and scheduled surgeries were also getting postponed this week.

Some medical professionals are forced to take public transport but a significant number of buses are not operating due to the fuel shortage.

Medical professionals attached to the Cardio-Thoracic Unit of the National Hospital of Sri Lanka wrote to the management that due to the shortage of drugs and consumables and the fuel crisis, they had restricted cardio-thoracic operating lists (heart surgeries).

The letter signed by cardiac surgeons and cardiac anaesthetists pointed out that most fuel stations were refusing to give priority to doctors and healthcare staff due to public anger. They were therefore spending six to ten hours in fuel queues even in sheds specifically allocated for essential services.

“From tomorrow (June 20) onwards, we will be operating in only two theatres. Each surgeon will do only two theatres lists for each week. A reduced number of junior medical officers, nurses and technical staff will be allocated. We will be able to perform only the most critical or urgent cases,” the medical professionals said, while stressing that they are reluctantly compelled to further curtail the operation theatre list.

Despite problems in education system Sajith goes for MSc in Environmental Science

As the country’s education sector is undergoing tremendous difficulties due to the ongoing economic crisis, there are some who inspire others to overcome the challenges in academic circles.

The latest to join is none other than Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa who secured top grades for his Master of Science (MSc) in Environmental Science degree final exams held recently.

However, the Opposition Leader who is a nature enthusiast, is yet to complete other requirements for the awarding of the degree in addition to the written examinations.

World spotlight on Sri Lanka’s “Farming Fridays”

These days Sri Lanka is being portrayed as a textbook example of the fall from upper middle-income status to lower middle-income status within a short span of three years in a global economy in crisis due to mismanagement and poor tax policies.

This week’s decision by the Cabinet on granting an extra day off (Friday) for three months to the public servants, to allow them to engage in home gardening amid the food crisis situation, caught the attention of many international dailies.

The World Economic Forum ran an explanatory video clip titled “Does your country have farming Fridays?”, on the recent Cabinet decision that saw some tracking the story on social media platforms.

Whoever coined the term “Farming Fridays” deserves some appreciation, one social media user commented, while lamenting on the country’s state of affairs.