UL cockpit crew refused to cooperate when co-officer fell ill: Minister alleges

BY Ajith Siriwardana and Yohan Perera

Civil Aviation Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva strongly criticized the SriLankan cockpit crew claiming that they refused to cooperate to operate the scheduled flight even when a co-officer was sick.

“There were 20 more first officers when the first officer on duty fell ill and they were off-duty.  I telephoned them and requested to fly the plane as the passengers are in distress. None of them responded positively and offered to fly the flight in the absence of their co-officer. This is the bitter truth. In the past, officers offered to cooperate in such instances for the sake of the country and the airline. But, none of the 20 officers came,” he accused.

He said the pilots, like doctors, get the necessary training and flying hours from SriLankan Airlines and later join other airlines for lucrative salaries. 

 Explaining the reason for the delay of SriLankan flight scheduled for South Korea, Minister stressed the need to restructure SriLankan Airlines to address issues like these.