Only a few years ago they were pushing papers, now they’re flying high.
Ground staff swap paperwork for a chance to follow their dreams and take to the skies
PETALING JAYA: It was only a few years ago that Lee Sze Wei and Mohd Danial Faris Mohd Nasir were handling paperwork in Malindo Air’s flight operations department.
Among other things, the job required compiling paper work on returned flights, delays and preparation for day-to-day operations.
Lee had worked for four months in the department while Mohd Danial had worked for more than a year before the airline gave them a chance to become cadet pilots.
They each underwent training for about six months before they became pilots.
Before joining the flight operations department in Malindo, both Lee and Mohd Danial had completed training at a flying school.
For the cadet pilots, their exposure to flight operations has given them a better understanding of how operations are conducted.
Mohd Danial now flies domestic and regional flights while Lee flies international routes.
Malindo, which started operations in 2013, now operates over 800 flights weekly across 49 routes in the region, with all of its pilots being Malaysians.
As of April this year, the airline has a fleet of 13 ATR72-600 and 29 Boeing 737NG.
For Mohd Danial, 27, the experience in flight operations helped him understand the difficulties pilots faced when there was a need to change aircraft, for example.
“Some pilots might not know what’s going on. As a co-pilot, I can tell them the procedure to swap aircraft,” said Mohd Danial.
He said that in this case, there would be a lot of considerations to take into account such as if it would affect the other flights.
Lee, 26, said that if she did not have experience in the back-end operations, she would have only looked at the problems from a pilot’s point of view.
“My previous experience helps me a lot. I know what the ground staff are looking for,” she said.
Some pilots might not know what’s going on. As a co-pilot, I can tell them the procedure to swap aircraft. Mohd Danial Faris Mohd Nasir