Air Ceylon … the way it used to be

By Capt Gihan A Fernando

Former First Officer Air Ceylon

gafplane@sltnet.lk

 The year was 1978. I was the standby First Officer (F/O) for the Avro HS 748 operations in Air Ceylon. Just like today, flying duties were few and far between. Due to different reasons though. On the average, flying duties were once in two weeks. One could be sure that First Officer on the roster would do his duty turn as otherwise there was a gap of almost a month between flights. Therefore, being on standby was no work as usual. When the family decided so watch ‘Fiddler on the Roof’ playing at the Lionel Wendt one evening, although I was standby; it was no big deal.

We had no telephone at our home as in those days there were ‘no loops’ available. The night before, I had a good rest, just in case. Sure enough the Crew Transport arrives at 0500 hours at my home with a note scribbled by ‘Gunda’ of Ratmalana Catering Office, on behalf of Air Ceylon Flight Operations Katunayake, informing me that I was required urgently for a flight departing Ratmalana at 0700hrs. No one had reported ‘sick’ it was that they had forgotten to include an F/O, in the crew! The driver was on his way to pick up the rest of the crew and was giving me ‘advanced notice’. It was a multi-sector flight Ratmalana/ China Bay (Trincomalee)/ KKS (Jaffna)/ Tiruchirapoly (India)/ KKS/ China Bay/ Ratmalana. I was living in Colombo 6, then.

The flight was scheduled to return to Ratmalana before sunset and I could make it to the Wendt on time. So, it was really no big deal. The Captain on roster was a nice guy named S Yogenthiran and Stewardess was Annemarie Maynette, who lived a further distance away from the Ratmalana Airport, off Galle Road. The steward lived somewhere in Mount Lavinia. That gave me time to have a ‘shave and shampoo’ and be ready in uniform to be picked up for the flight.

The flight cycle itself, was uneventful except for the cumulative delays on the way. This made me rather nervous and wondered whether I could make it back home on time. The theatre tickets indicated that the theatre doors will close sharp at 1900 hours (7 pm) and late comers shall be turned away. The authorities I believe were implementing this for the first time in Sri Lanka.

1715 hours (5.15 pm) found us rolling down the Runway at China Bay on the take-off for Ratmalana.

It was after we reached the top of climb, that I voiced my concern to ‘Capt Yoga’ that I was worried that I will not be able to make it to the Wendt before door closing time.  He was rather cool and said “Don’t worry we will sort something out”. We made a straight I approach from the east on Runway 22, landed and parked the aircraft by 1820 hours (6.20pm) at Ratmalana apron.

The Air Ceylon crew van drivers, usually were a law unto themselves being long standing members of the Air Ceylon Employees Union and normally wouldn’t stretch a finger to help. Fortunately for me, the driver that day was a very obliging guy.

Knowing my predicament, Steward who was entitled to a ‘home drop’ and lived somewhere in the ‘interior’ off Gall Road Mount Lavinia, decided to get off at the ‘top’ of Galle Road. I was also in luck to be going to Colombo against the evening traffic. By now the driver was also committed to get my wife and me to the play on time. I reached Wellawatte at 1835, my wife was ready to go. After a ‘cat wash’ a change of shirt and off we went again. Since the vehicle was coming back to Ratmalana, both Anne and Capt Yoga decided that the priority was to take us to the Wendt first, rather than wasting time dropping themselves off at home on the way they decided to get dropped off on the return instead. We walked in and took our seats at the Lionel Wendt at 1858 hours (6.58pm). No one would have imagined that I was in Trincomalee at 1715 hours (5.15pm)! It was a good exercise in time management for sure and truly an unforgettable experience achieved through goodwill and team work.

Those were the days!