I WAS FIRST MALAY COMMERCIAL PILOT
Hassan Ahmad was one of two young Malays hired as pilots for Malayan Airways in the 1960s. AYISY YUSOF has the story
THE country’s first Malay commercial pilot, Hassan Ahmad, took only 3½ years of flying to be commissioned as a pilot for the national air carrier.
This was in 1965, when no young Malays were trained to be pilots.
Hassan, now 81, was one of two Malays, the other being Khairi Mohamed, who were hired as pilots for Malayan Airways.
Hassan began his pilot training in 1959 when he attended the Federation of Malaya Air Training Corps. He was 23.
After completing the pilot cadetship, he joined a flying club before securing a two-year scholarship to train in a flying school in Indonesia.
“In those days, it was very rare. No Malay youth were trained for an airline job. I was fortunate that I was an air cadet and able to join a flying club under the bursary scholarship system. That’s how I got my first pilot licence, called Private Pilot Licence,” he said.
He said jobs were waiting for them when he and Khairi graduated from the Indonesian flying school.
“We joined Malayan Airways Limited in 1962 and progressed rather quickly to become copilots to captain,” he recalled.
When he first started flying, Hassan said, a pilot must sit an external examination set by the London Civil Aviation Authority to be eligible for an airline captain position.
“You have to pass the examination and then your airline will be able to promote you because you have higher licence qualifications,” he said.
A captain must have at least 3,500 hours of flying experience and hold an Airlines’ Transport Pilot Licence from London.
“You have to pass all these hurdles and, fortunately, I was able to do this in quick time. Whenever there was a free flying schedule, I would fly even though it was not my schedule,” Hassan said.
He said at times, he was flying as many as 100 hours a month, which were beyond the limit of an emergency.
“As a co-pilot, I flew to accumulate 3,500 flying hours,” he said.
And, as a pilot, he said, he had to undergo training.
“Flying is something that is very unforgiving. A simple mistake can be fatal.”
Hassan’s first international long-haul flight was from Singapore to Perth in Australia on the four-engine Comet 4B, carrying 68 passengers.
“That was a very sophisticated airplane and the first commercial pure jet engine to fly across the
Atlantic between London and the United States.”
Unfortunately, during its service in later years, the British Airways had experienced two aircraft failures because of pressurisation when the cabin burst in mid-air in India and Italy.
While he started his career with Malayan Airways in Singapore, Hassan said he had always wanted to return to his hometown in Kuala Lumpur.
In 1965, with the split between Malaysia and Singapore, Malayan Airways became Malaysia-Singapore Airways (MSA) a year later, with both governments taking up equity in the airline.
As early as 1970, Hassan said, there was talk about transferring the airline to Kuala Lumpur.
“I was looking forward to joining Malaysian Airline System (MAS). I grew up in Kuala Lumpur and I wanted to return to my hometown. I was one of those who were very happy about returning to Kuala Lumpur,” he said.
Back then, Hassan felt that it was high time for Malaysia to have its own air carrier, but it was delayed.
“There was a proposal to the Transport Ministry to introduce the Malaysian carrier, but they (the authorities) said: ‘If you are not ready, you cannot form the airline. Otherwise, it would go down the drain’.”
“It was a long time before we got our own airline established. It was long overdue,” he recalled.
MSA ceased operations in 1972, with its assets split between two new airlines, namely Malaysia
Airlines and Singapore Airlines.
Determined to develop its international routes, Singapore Airlines took the entire fleet of seven Boeing 707s and five Boeing 737s, allowing it to continue servicing the regional and longhaul international routes.
MAS, on the other hand, took all the domestic routes within Malaysia and international routes out of Singapore, as well as the remaining fleet of Fokker F27s and Britten-Norman Islanders. Its flight operations began on Oct 1, 1972.
Hassan, who was already flying the 737s when he was with MSA, was involved in the ferry flights of MAS’ Boeing planes from Seattle in the US to Kuala Lumpur. MAS took delivery of seven 737-200s for its domestic and regional flights.
MAS received its first Boeing plane in August 1972 and celebrated with several flying trials and offered free flights to the public.
Hassan’s first commercial flight for MAS was on Oct 1, 1972 to Singapore, while his colleague, Khairi, flew from Kuala Lumpur to Penang.
Hassan retired at the age of 55, having accumulated 12,000 flying hours.
“I was not flying much as I was doing a lot of administrative work. When I was in Singapore, besides working as a commercial pilot, I did some training for the pilots at the base. Whereas, if it includes my flying experience, I would have flown maybe 20,000 to 25,000 hours,” he said.