FIRST MALAY COMMERCIAL PILOT DIES
Veteran aviator, 82, dies from organ failure at Kuala Lumpur Hospital
VETERAN Malaysian aviator Captain Hassan Ahmad died at Kuala Lumpur Hospital (HKL) at 9.15pm on Friday. He was 82.
His son, Ahmad Hussein, told the New Sunday Times that prayers were held at a surau in HKL, and his father would be laid to rest at the Kampung Kemensah Muslim cemetery.
Hassan’s wife, Selina Chong Abdullah, told NST that her husband died from organ failure at the hospital’s intensive care unit (ICU) where he had been warded since Thursday.
She said initially, he had diarrhoea.
He later experienced septic shock and became unconscious before he was admitted to the hospital.
At the time of his passing, Selina said she was on a flight from Australia, where she had been visiting her grandchild.
“I bought his favourite green grapes and dates from Australia,” Selina said, adding that her son, Ahmad Hussein, and his wife, Dayang Erna Mulluk, were with Hassan when he died.
Hassan and Selina have two children — Ahmad Hussein and Dr Juliana Murni. He has six other children from a previous marriage. Hassan has 12 grandchildren and one great grandchild.
Describing her husband as a loving and kind-hearted man, Selina said he was also soft-spoken and a workaholic.
Hassan, who was the country’s first Malay commercial pilot, was only 23 when he began his pilot training in 1959.
He joined Malayan Airways Limited in Singapore in 1962 after completing his pilot cadetship after obtaining his Private Pilot Licence.
In an interview with NST last year, Hassan said he and Khairi Mohamed, who joined the Malayan Airways with him that same year, “progressed rather quickly to become co-pilots to captain(s)”.
“Flying is something that is very unforgiving. “A simple mistake can be fatal,” Hassan had said.
His first international longhaul flight was from Singapore to Perth, Australia, on the four-engine comet 4B.
With his start as a commercial pilot being in Singapore, Hassan told NST that he had always wanted to return to Malaysia.
His dream came true when Malayan Airways, which later became Malaysia-Singapore Airways (MSA), ceased operations in 1972. MSA’s assets were split between what became the Singapore Airlines and Malaysia Airlines System (MAS).
Hassan’s first commercial flight for MAS was on Oct 1, 1972 from the Subang International Airport to Singapore. This was also MAS’s first flight after the MSA split. His last position with MAS was director of flight operations.