![\"DG](\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/Nimalasiri.jpg\")
<\/a>DG Civil Aviation H.M.C. Nimalasiri<\/p><\/div>\n
The Director General’s statement comes hot on the heals after ICAO’s regional office in Bangkok Thailand sent him a 42 page complaint made to them for an alleged series of flight violations committed by Mihin Lanka<\/span><\/a> between 20th June 2015 and 3rd September 2015 and seeking explanation.<\/p>\n Mihin Lanka has been managed by SriLankan Airlines<\/span><\/a> since 2015 since the yahapalanaya government led by President Maithripala Sirisena and Premier Ranil Wickramasinghe took office.<\/p>\n The document sent by ICAO\u2019s regional officer Flight Safety Asia\/Pacific Amal Hewawasam to the Director General Nimalasiri has now been forwarded by him to SriLankan Airlines Chairman Ajith Dias<\/span><\/a>.<\/p>\n However the failure of the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) to investigate two serious safety related issues reported officially by Capt. Charles Sirimanne<\/span><\/a> is what now has set the cat among the pigeons.<\/p>\n Captain Charles Sirimanne\u2019s employment was terminated by Mihin Lanka on the 10th of September 2015.<\/p>\n The reason for his termination was where contractually either party could provide three months notice and end the contract.<\/p>\n Capt. Sirimanne was provided a letter by Mihin Lanka which stated that he is been paid three months wages and his employment ended with immediate effect. He subsequently filed a case in the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka for unlawful dismissal.<\/p>\n However what transpired thereafter is what has now got the ICAO, CAA of Sri Lanka and even the national carrier embroiled in a tango that is certainly going to expose the serious flaws of the CAA and the officials who run the affairs of the regulatory body.<\/p>\n In a sworn affidavit provided by Capt. Pujitha Jayakody in his submission to the Supreme Court, he went on to justify Capt.Sirimanne’s termination was due to acts of sabotage.<\/p>\n This reason was contrary to the letter of termination issued to Capt.Sirimanne by Mihin Lanka.<\/p>\n It is the same safety related incidents that Capt. Sirimanne reported to the CAA of Sri Lanka that has now been turned against him.<\/p>\n However documentary evidence seen by Colombo Telegraph reveals that the Civil Aviation of Sri Lanka failed to investigate these serious safety related incidents reported first by Capt.Sirimanne.<\/p>\n Subsequently it has come to light by ommission and or by commission that the Civil Aviation Authority of Sri Lanka has jeopardized the integrity of the country.<\/p>\n Since the 10th of September 2015 sufficient proof exists that it has violated the Air Navigation Regulation Act of Sri Lanka.<\/p>\n The Air Navigation Regulation of Sri Lanka number 208, (1) clearly states \u201cNo operator shall employ in Ceylon in any capacity in any aircraft operation licensed under this part a person who is not a citizen of Ceylon, except with the prior approval of the Director in writing. 208(2) Before approving the appointment of any person not being a citizen of Ceylon to act in any capacity in an aircraft operation licensed under the provisions of this part, the Director shall satisfy himself that no person who is a citizen of Ceylon with suitable qualifications is available for appointment.<\/p>\n In the termination letter provided to Capt. Sirmanne there is no mention of misconduct or any reason of incompetence that warranted his termination.<\/p>\n Director General Nimalasiri when asked as to why an inquiry was not held by the CAA into the safety violations reported earlier by Capt. Charles Sirimanne, he said \u201cI wrote to the Chairman Ajith Dias and inquired as to why Capt. Sirimannewas terminated. Chairman Dias informed me that Capt. Sirimanne was terminated on disciplinary grounds. I chose not to pursue the issue as he was already terminated anyway and there was no point constituting an inquiry”.<\/p>\n If so, then the Chairman Ajith Dias has even contradicted himself in this instance, as it was under section 13 of Capt. Sirimanne\u2019s letter of appointment that was was cited as the reason for his employment to have ended.<\/p>\n Capt. Sirimanne stated that he followed the proper protocol channels prior to sending his report to ICAO. \u201cIn an earlier incident seven co-pilots of Mihin Lanka wrote directly to the ICAO complaining about being verbally abused and harassed by their then chief pilot Themiya Abeywickrama of Mihin Lanka. However ICAO stated that instead of the complaint been forwarded directly to them it needed to be handed to their local regulatory body first. The letter was eventually diverted to Capt. Druvi Perera the Chief Operations Officer of SriLankan Airlines who was managing the operations of Mihin Lanka at that time\u201d he said.<\/p>\n The seven Co-Pilots who reported this incident were then taken to task and harassed further.<\/p>\n Majority of those seven pilots resigned and joined other airlines due to the uncertainty of their careers.<\/p>\n Blaming the management of Sri Lankan Airlines the Director General went on to say \u201cThis entire fiasco between Capt. Pujitha Jayakody<\/span><\/a> and Capt. Charles Sirimanne of Mihin Lanka was a personal grudge the former bore against his now terminated captain. When he was Mihin Lanka\u2019s Manager Flight\/Ground Safety Captain Sirimanne objected to a programme that Capt. Jayakody was trying to implement. This programme was where Mihin Lanka attempted to sell cadet pilot training programs to unqualified Indian (expatriate) flyers. This would have prevented the entry of future qualified Sri Lankan nationals from gaining entrance to Mihin Lanka. Moreover the scrapping of this pilot training programme was due to the newly introduced CAA requirement where at minimum a frozen Air Transport Pilot License (ATPL) to fly a Sri Lankan registered aircraft was made mandatory”.<\/p>\n Commenting further DG Nimalasiri went on to say \u201cCapt. Sirimanne was right in his complaint which was violating all norms and the programme had to be terminated. Thereafter Capt. Sirimanne was removed as the Manager Flight\/Ground Safety by Mihin Lanka even though his removal had to come through our office. The airline’s management should have handled this case better and nipped this in the bud then. It has now got blown out of proportion and has become an international issue. We could even be blacklisted by ICAO which is a far more serious issue\u201d.<\/p>\n The petition pertaining to five flights operated by Mihin Lanka to Seychelles in 2015, was sent directly to ICAO and was confirmed by Capt. Sirimanne. This was done by Capt. Sirimanne after the Civil Aviation Authority of Sri Lanka had also been notified about this series of flights in writing initially, which the CAA of Sri Lanka chose to ignore.<\/p>\n “As I was left with no other option, I wrote to ICAO directly as the CAA was turning a blind eye to these serious lapses. Even Fly Dubai crashed recently killing all board due to a similar bad weather related issue. I have personally sent in many reports that warranted immediate investigations in the past, but the CAA always brushed it under the carpet. Everybody knows that and there is nothing anyone could do. This is Sri Lanka after all. We as a nation have been lucky to have averted many disasters in the past despite the several shortcomings of our very own regulatory body. The aircraft manufacturers have given us very good aircraft and our engineers have done a superb job over the years to ensure that they are maintained in very good condition. All I was interested in was to ensure that safety standards are met to the international standards that we are governed by. Is that too much to ask for? I had to now pay a heavy price even losing my job because of highlighting these issues. But that is fine. We are responsible for many lives when we fly them. That is what is most important. If this could be rectified at the cost of my job, then I don\u2019t mind.” said Capt. Sirimanne.<\/p>\n Captain Lalith Wijetunga another Mihin Lanka pilot tendered his resignation in soon after the termination of Capt. Charles Sirimanne, as he no longer had faith in the safe operation of the airline.<\/p>\n Part of his lengthy letter of resignation in disgust states \u201cThe staff of any organisation need to be constantly updated on the changes taking place around them but even as Captains we were the last to know of such and that too from the media or through our valued passengers. Communication within the company had ceased to exist. Vengeance, that led to the illogical termination of Capt Charles Sirimanne showed us the lowest depths we finally fell into. It is heartening to note that some of his valuable suggestions in operating safer flights to Seychelles is today being implemented by UL.I too had authored many letters suggesting improvements and had lodged many complaints in the past through letters, voyage reports, ASR\u2019s and MOR\u2019s. A few bore fruit, though grudgingly and after much prodding. The exposure to the illegal and dangerous practice of overloading our aircraft by a corrupt few readily comes to mind. Such reports are of serious safety concern to an airline and would’ve bothered any responsible management but that too fell on deaf ears. It was indeed sad to note that even the former DFO and the CEO chose to ignore this serious threat to aviation, in terms of safety and the loss of much needed revenue for reasons best known to themselves.<\/p>\n These contents prove that despite having a qualified CRM specialist as the current CEO in Capt. Suren Ratwatte, the process is in absolute shambles.<\/p>\n The Director General Nimalasiri confirmed that the following three cases will be thoroughly investigated by the CAA at the conclusion of Colombo Telegraph\u2019s interview with him.<\/p>\n Stated below are a few incidents that the Civil Aviation Authority of Sri Lanka swept under the carpet:<\/strong><\/p>\n 1. Capt. Druvi Perera<\/span><\/a> (Sri Lankan Airlines) on landing into Chennai (India) the aircraft under his control skidded way off the runway damaging the runway lights. He continued to taxi to the parking bay. This was hushed up by the CAA of Sri Lanka. However subsequently he was promoted to the post of Chief Operations Officer. As the Chief Operations Officer he instructed the pilot training managers Capt. Ranga Amadoru and Capt. Patrick Fernando to reduce the pass mark in order to recruit two cadet pilots who had failed their exams. Both Capt. Amadoru and Capt. Fernando resigned from their posts as they refused to comply with Capt.Druvi Perera\u2019s orders. This is highlighted in the Weliamuna\/Jayaratne Board of Inquiry report.<\/p>\n 2. Capt. Keminda Yahampath<\/span><\/a> (Sri Lankan Airlines) – Burst several tires of the aircraft due to an unsafe landing into Trivandrum. What was more dangerous was that he taxied with burst tires to the parking bay. Miraculously a catastrophic situation was averted despite continuing to taxi on shredded tires and just on bare steel rims, where the slightest of friction could have had the aircraft in a ball of flames. He was subsequently promoted and currently is the Manager Flight \/Ground Safety of SriLankan Airlines and also of Mihin Lanka since 21st May 2015. This was after the orchestrated removal of Capt.Sirimanne from the post. He was instrumental in providing an inaccurate proposal to gloss and facilitate the illegal operation to Seychelles when the weather is below safety requirements.He proved that he does not have the basic knowledge on this subject.<\/p>\n 3. Capt. Anupama Pathirane<\/span><\/a> (Sri Lankan Airlines) – He practiced an engine a failure during takeoff which is the most critical stage of any flight. Further he neglected to retract the landing gear and due to the subsequent drag, burnt more fuel and could not make it to his destination. He lied in his Air Safety Report report stating that there was a vibration and that he reduced the engine power and completed the required procedure to re-cycle the landing gear. The digital flight recorder proved otherwise. He was not terminated however the Civil Aviation Authority of Sri Lanka re-issued his flying license despite his incompetence and dishonesty.<\/p>\n 4. Capt. Adrian Cramer<\/span><\/a> (Mihin Lanka) – Took an unqualified ETOPS pilot on a two man cockpit operation to fly CMB\/CGK\/CMB (ETOPS Flight) violating laid down procedures. As a Designated Check Pilot himself (DCP) for the CAA. No record has been seen up to date or known if any action was taken against him.<\/p>\n 5. Capt. Chinthaka Nilaweera (Sri Lankan Airlines) – Simulator Instructor plus Designated Check Pilot himself, took off from Colombo in the night when the runway lights was switched off due to a power failure.<\/p>\n\n