Page 25 - 2017-Issue3

25 VOICE OF THE REGIONS

Voice of the Regions

“It is both inspiring and encouraging to

see how Pilots volunteer their time for

the betterment of the airline industry.”

Captain Shavantha Pedris,
IFALPA Regional Vice-President for ASIA/West

Captain Shavantha Pedris was elected WHAT AIRPORT INFRASTRUCTURE HOW MIGHT HARMONIZATION
Regional Vice President for Asia/West at IMPROVEMENTS HAVE YOU SEEN WITH ICAO STANDARDS
the 72nd IFALPA Conference in IN YOUR REGION THAT HAVE BEEN IMPROVE THE SITUATION IN
Montreal, 2017. He has been a Crew BENEFICIAL TO SAFETY? YOUR REGION?
Resource Management Facilitator since
2009, and has served on IFALPA’s In the last twelve months, Bandaranaike In general, Asia West, including Sri Lanka,
HUPER and AAP Committees. Captain International Airport (BIA) saw the conforms to ICAO standards. Non-stand-
Pedris has flown Airbus A320/330 for successful implementation of RNAV-1 ard phraseology is often used and that
SriLankan Airlines for fifteen years. (GNSS) SID/STAR and RNP Approaches. may cause confusion and misunderstand-
As stakeholders, the Pilots of the National ings especially with various accents.
Carrier, SriLankan Airlines, were actively
involved in both the design and post WHAT DOES IFALPA MEAN TO
implementation of this navigational YOU PERSONALLY?
infrastructure upgrade. Although the Airline Pilots’ Guild of Sri
In the first quarter of 2017, BIA’s runway Lanka (ALPGSL) has been a member
was upgraded to code ‘F’ and widened to association of IFALPA for many years, I
60 meters. The runway/taxiway lighting only got involved whilst I was serving as a
was also upgraded to CAT II LED, Committee member in 2015. More
anticipating the growth in the next 20 specifically, when I attended my very first
years. This colossal task was long overdue IFALPA Annual Conference in Madrid.
as the last major works took place in 1986. Attending this meeting made me realise

CAN YOU DISCUSS HAZARDS that we had much to learn from other
UNIQUE TO YOUR REGION? Associations and more to gain from the
rich resources that IFALPA had gathered
Wildlife, particularly birds, continues to over decades. I took over as the IFALPA
be the main hazard for pilots operating in Director around this time and began
this region. Experts are frequently attendeding a few AAP and HUPER
consulted with the intention of studying Committee Meetings. I am also an
both migratory and breeding patterns to IFALPA Accredited Accident Investigator.
minimize the risk of bird strikes. It is both inspiring and encouraging to see
However, there are numerous bird strike how Pilots volunteer their time for the
reports by the Pilots, particularly betterment of the airline industry.
operating into aerodromes in South India.

ISSUE 3 | 2017 InterPilot | The Safety and Technical Journal of IFALPA