A niece of President Rajapakse is in the top rank in Sri Lankan Air Lines despite failing the Sri Lankan Commercial Pilot's Licence
(August 25, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) Maddini Chandradasa, one of President Rajapakse's nieces was admitted into the Cadet batch in 2008. However, despite her 'family credentials', she did not pass the Sri Lankan Commercial Pilot License which was a mandatory requirement. She later managed to convert the License after she was recruited by Sri Lankan Airlines and started the Ground school for the Airbus.
In the past some Cadets were turned down for not having the Sri Lankan Commercial License at the intake. While most of the Cadets came from UK and Australia had passed very difficult CPL papers and ATPL papers, this girl who came from the USA after passing the FAA written test (which is just one paper) managed to pass the tough, difficult Sri Lankan Airlines Technical exam the first time. This same exam has been failed by some cadets who had ATPL papers from the UK and Australia and had to repeat the exam three to four times before getting into the airline. Even the Sri Lankan license is recognised by the FAA ( USA ) where 13 Written papers must be passed based on the UK CAA.
Maddini was passed by the then Chief Pilot of the A320s and sent though the Sim and type rating. It is now known that she and ex-steward who were batch mates have now been upgraded to the A330 Wide body Aircraft without fulfilling the Upgrading requirement of the Company by getting 4 Marks on the A320 Sim. This is nothing less than bypassing the seniority list of the Cadets and abusing the system. The question is by whose orders was the system abused in such a blatant manner?
Meanwhile reliable source disclosed to the Sri Lanka Guardian that when Kapila Chandradasa (yet another relative) is appointed he will get the Boeing deal going. It is now an open secret in the Airline that this Boeing deal will benefit the President’s family and their puppets which is inexplicable when the airline itself is making a loss.
One source reported, "If there is not a proper business plan then we cannot afford a mix fleet of Airbus and Boeing aircraft as the training of pilots, engineers, technicians and cabin crew for these planes will create a huge burden in terms of training costs."
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