Mihin Lanka Pilot Snoozes In Cockpit By Himself
May 12, 2015
A Mihin Lanka Captain was found snoozing in the cockpit of a commercial flight en route to Colombo, whilst his First Officer of the low cost carrier was locked out the airline’s sources told Colombo Telegraphyesterday.
Capt Gajendra Wagh (left hand seat) Capt. Themiya Abeywickrama Manager Training and Standards (right hand seat)
The panic stricken Mihin Lanka First Officer (F/O) of flight MJ 408 Subki Lafir and the cabin crew returning from Sharjah on the 1st of May 2015, finally succeeded in their frantic bid to gain re-entry into the flight deck by using the emergency ‘overriding’ access code, after the F/O found himself locked out by his operating Captain Wagh, who was subsequently found fast asleep at the flight controls.
“The First Officer and the Flight Purser Rozeena were relieved to finally gain entry into the Flight Deck after they found themselves in a carbon copied situation that the fateful crew of ‘German Wings’ found themselves in recently ”, inside sources from within the airline told Colombo Telegraph yesterday.
Coincidentally the F/O Lafir could not have found a more appropriate day than the 1st of May to make that dreaded cockpit distress call ‘May Day! May Day! May Day!’.
However in this instance he made this call out to his Flight Purser Rozeena, who together with him managed to eventually gain entry to the Flight Deck by using the secret code designed for such emergency purposes.
Captain Wagh an Indian national is reported to frequently commute from his home town in Bombay to operate his scheduled flights, even though he has his own accommodation in Seeduwa, a town which is located closer to Colombo’s Bandaranaike International Airport Katunayake.
However on this particular day it was further reported that he arrived from Bombay in the morning of 30th April 2015 and headed to the Mihin Lanka office in Colombo to complete some official work.
