In response to media articles published on SriLankan Airlines’ alleged lapses in safety, the Airline wishes to clarify and place on record the following:

The Airline has a Safety Management System, part of which is flight data monitoring on a continuous basis through the digital flight data that is received from the aircraft. This is used to identify any event that exceeds the pre-set profiles of the flight and is flagged as a deviation. Pre-set profiles are applicable to a particular aircraft type and sector and are in line with Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) of the Airline.

The Flight Safety Section of the Airline monitors these trends on a continuous basis and identifies any deviations which are safety critical. In this process the Airline confirmed that it had not found any instances which exceeded the pre- set profiles which were safety critical nor any evidence of instances of Flight Crew deactivating certain functional and vital flight instruments/engines/systems in flights (including the IRS)  engaged in commercial passenger operations with a view to getting an opportunity to practising certain abnormal and emergency conditions, as mentioned in the Article  and as mentioned in quoted letter of Director General of Civil Aviation.

However, there was in fact a case of an inflight turn back due to suspected engine high vibration. As the pilot’s occurrence report had not given sufficient details to identify the root cause of the said vibration SriLankan Engineering requested Airbus Industries for an in depth report of the Digital Flight Data Recordings (DFDR) pertaining to that particular flight.  As per the report, the Airline found that the Flight Crew which operated that particular flight had deviated from the SOP’s of the Company. Immediately, the Airline appointed a panel of inquiry consisting of the most senior instructor pilots, which,  after due inquiry found that the Flight Crew had violated SOPs of the Company but not to the effect of simulating conditions with passengers on board as stated in the Article.  The Company based on the findings of the Inquiring Panel has taken appropriate action vis – a – vis the Fight Crew to address such violation.

SriLankan Airlines has an unblemished safety record and its crews have been trained in keeping with the highest international standards which have been recognised as such by the regular inspections and audits conducted both by the Civil Aviation Authority of Sri Lanka and other international institutions such as International  Air Transport Association’s (IATA) Operational Safety Audit (IOSA). The last such IOSA audit was conducted in December 2014 at which the Airline was re-certified.

With regard to the other incident mentioned, SriLankan hereby refers to the entry logged in the Captain’s Report where the Captain, upon his return to the cockpit had found the door being opened manually by the first officer who has gotten up from her seat. The captain has de-briefed her thoroughly of the seriousness of the event and it was acknowledged by her. And the matter was handled then and there and closed.

SriLankan wishes to reaffirm that the Airline and its flight crew, at no point, had compromised on the safety of the aircraft and its passengers.- SriLankan Airlines

Source: http://www.island.lk/index.php?page_cat=article-details&page=article-details&code_title=119356