Airline Pilots’ Guild too shoots down Arundika’s pilot claim

Hot on the heels of the Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) having denied the statement made by SLPP MP Arundhika Fernando that he has served in the SLAF as a pilot, the Airline Pilots' Guild of Sri Lanka (ALPGSL) has also denied his claim.

The ALPGSL in a twitter post said "ALPGSL is the sole representative of pilots at the National Carrier. Therefore, we categorically deny his claim of having been a pilot in our fraternity. We have no record whatsoever of him being a pilot for the National Carrier."

The MP said in parliament last week that his house and several important documents including flying logs of SLAF were destroyed due to the mob setting fire to his house during the recent violence.

"I have nothing to show today that I was in the Air Force and SriLankan Airlines.

In those days, when a flight took off, they were recorded in logs because there was no facility to computerize at that time. All those logs were destroyed by the fire that broke out in my house," the MP said.

However, SLAF Spokesman Group Captain Dushan Wijesinghe had said last Friday that there were no records that the MP had ever served in the SLAF.

He further said the MP had once attended the Flying Aptitude Test in which he failed.

Now the Pilots' Guild has also denied Fernando's claim.