Female Pilot At The Helm Of RBA Flight
By M K Anwar

Bandar Seri Begawan - Brunei's national carrier, Royal Brunei Airlines, yesterday achieved a milestone when one of its two female pilots took the helm of flight BI683 on a training flight to Manila.

First Officer Sariana Nordin's rise to the ranks of her male counterparts was no easy feat. She went through a 24-month `secondment' with Emerald Airlines in the United Kingdom to gain 1,000 hours of flying time and some valuable experience. She completed the assignment in June this year.

As is normal procedure, all RBA cadet pilots are seconded to other airlines to fly smaller commuter aircraft before returning to fly the larger commercial jets in RBA's fleet. This is actually the second "in-command" flight Sariana has operated.

According to RBA, its Cadet Pilot Training scheme is designed to equip young Bruneians with skills, qualifications and experience required for future entry into Royal Brunei Airlines as First Officers.

Cadets are sent overseas for training for up to 18 months to acquire "frozen" (ATPL) Air Transport Pilot Licence with Instrument-Rating.

During the post-training phase, the cadets are seconded to other airlines overseas to gain at least 1,000 flying hours on smaller commuter aircraft before flying larger commercial jet aircraft back home.

Sariana will be leading the way for other RBA female pilots, including Dk Hariyati Pg Abd Rais, Sharifah Czarena Suriany Syed Hj Hashim and two others.

Sariana and Dk Hariyati are now regular faces on the Boeing 767 flight deck. RBA's drive to attract potential women pilots began in 1999. Dk Hariyati was the second woman pilot to join RBA's Cadet Pilot training scheme in 2001 as part of the 32" intake.

First Officer Sharifah Czarena Suriany recently returned - from `secondment' with Loganair in Glasgow, Scotland and is currently undergoing conversion training for the Boeing 767.

Another RBA female cadet pilot is still, undergoing training at Cabair College of Air Training in Cranfield, England while the other is still with Loganair.

Up to now there are a total of 56 qualified local pilots flying with RBA and 22 of them are ranked Airlines Captains. The national carrier currently operates four Airbus and six Boeing aircrafts.

The carrier's future prospects also look bright with plans to expand its fleet and order several new and bigger planes to service its growing trunk routes and to slowly phase out its B767s.  -- Courtesy of Borneo Bulletin

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