‘Fun Fliers’ is a must when we talk of aviation-by Capt Elmo Jayawardena Source:Island The first Sri Lankan to get a private pilot’s licence was Dunstan de Silva. That was way back in 1936. He was a member of the flying club in Ratmalana. People who flew during that period were mostly expatriates. A few locals, too, learnt to fly and joined the fraternity of aviators as the ‘fun fliers’ of Ratmalana. The numbers grew and many an aeroplane enthusiast donned the leather helmet and wore goggles and flew open cockpit Tiger Moths and became a private pilot. It was great fun; they flew the blue skies and took trips to the Puttalam airport, landed and had lunch at the Rest House and by evening flew back to Ratmalana. That was more than 80 years ago. I remember the time when I was a fledgling pilot. Commercial trainees, like me, ...
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How many roads must a man walk down? – by Capt Elmo Jayawardena The journey has been long, very very long. It started in a little village called Dandu Bendi Ruppa in Nuwara Kalaviya when Dingiriamma rolled Jayathilaka in a ‘borrowed’ wheel chair for his first day in the village school. “Hodatama Wahinawa Mahaththayo” she told me, the skies were gray and raining and the distant clouds were coughing thunder. She had covered her 10 year old handicapped son with a plastic sheet and pushed him on rickety old wheels which were gifted to them when some old man died in the next village. Such was the beginning…. That was then, twenty five years ago. The ceremony was solemn, opulent and almost sacred. The National University of Singapore does not spare anything when it comes to their ‘lime light’ events. The Class of 2011 all gathered in their robes of ...
Oct 26, 2021
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“The JAFFNA” and the Bird Aeroplanes by Capt Elmo Jayawardena Some years ago, I was writing a book for the Civil Aviation Authority of Sri Lanka. They were commemorating 100 years of aviation in our skies. I was collecting information from every possible source, from people who remembered and from people who had heard aviation stories of yester-year that had connections to Ceylon. That’s when I came to know of ‘The Jaffna,’ which sure has its own fascinating story. The year was 1915. A group of Jaffna Tamil people who had migrated to Malaya, takes the lead role to relate an unusual tale about a British Royal Flying Corps (R.F.C.) fighter plane that carried a Sri Lankan name. Native people of countries conquered by the British Empire were called to serve the war effort against Germany. Many joined and saw action both on land and sea. Efforts were also made ...
Oct 5, 2021
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Tagged British Royal Flying Corps, Capt Elmo Jayawardena, Sitiyawan Gnanapathypillai, The Flying Fox, The JAFFNA
eLanka Newsletter – 22nd September 2021 – 6th Edition – Sri Lankans In Australia Click here or on the image below to read this week’s elanka Newsletter Pam Ayers Ode to Corona Virus – By Des Kelly Kerrigan La-Brooy – Nominated in the Australian Country Music People’s Choice Awards in 6 Categories Spring Fair to lift our moods during lockdown Business Systems Certification – ISO Certification by Sydney-based Australian company owned by Sri-Lankan Australians Johns Hopkins Cancer Researcher Ashani Weeraratna Appointed To National Cancer Advisory Board By President Biden – by Upali Obeyesekere Peanut’s Password Panic! | JEFF DUNHAM’S Completely Unrehearsed Last-Minute Pandemic Holiday Special Spring Fair to lift our moods during lockdown Veteran Journalist Thalif Deen Takes Over as IDN Advisor By Ramesh Jaura Memories of Yore – By Noor Rahim Pancreas gland- what does it do for you?-By Dr Harold Gunatillake Kaleidoscope with Savithri Rodrigo 71 17 10 ...
Sep 23, 2021
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Tagged ALLAAM OUSMAN, Capt Elmo Jayawardena, D.B.S.Jeyaraj, eLanka Newsletter, Hugh Karunanayake
IT’S ALL DONE UPSTAIRS by Capt.Elmo Jayawardena I drove aeroplanes for a living. I drove 747s for Singapore Airlines, probably the best airline in the world at that time. It was a great life. Better than most that I can think of. Fly a beautiful big jet from continent to continent, live in the best of hotels all expenses paid, see the world on Company account. The icing was always the home lifestyle. As good as it can be and better than most. Gave my wife and children a very decent comfortable life. They ask me how I made it to the top of my profession? They often ask me how I became a pilot? They ask me what university I attended and what degrees I read? There is humour when I think of the answers. Kind of makes me laugh. I went to school for twelve years. This cost ...
Sep 20, 2021
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Canoeing down the Kalu Ganga-by Capt. Elmo Jayawardena The trip had been on my mind. The trick was to find a matching dullard to come along. Wild goose chasers these days are hard to come by. Ananda came from far, all the way from Melbourne. Left his legal paraphernalia and pleaded guilty to join me in canoeing down the beautiful Kalu Ganga, from Ratnapura to Kalutara. Forget the planning. There is no planning. Our lives are too full of plans to carry it to the river. This one was pure spasmodic, take it as it comes stuff. The boat was there, the lovable SOLITAIRE. We were ready; Ana Jayasinghe and I, and the Kalu Ganga would surely flow. That’s all you need to melody moonbeams. It would take three days, that’s what I reckoned. In age, Ana and I added to a fair amount over hundred years. He’s never canoed ...
FLIGHT OF THE DOUBLE SUNRISE-by – Capt. Elmo Jayawardena Koggala today – the lake, the sea and the Runway “One more wild goose chase,” that‟s what Dil, my boss said when she reluctantly agreed to accompany me to the southern fringe of Sri Lanka, in search of Justin and his memories of aero planes that flew to break records. It was time in the forties, the story happened so many years ago. The meat of the matter lay in Koggala, the little hamlet nestled between the palm fringed sea and the bucolic Koggala Lake two hours‟ drive from Colombo. That‟s where I headed this time to chase wild geese. We stayed a night in Galle, at The Light House Hotel, service par excellence, pampered and petalled with food fit to feed gods. In the morning we drove south, along the Matara road, looking for the turn off to Ahangama where ...
Ahasata Igilee – Yanawo Yanawo-By Capt Elmo Jayawardena Source:Island That’s what they sang for parting wishes at the wedding of Mary Felicia’s daughter. The choir of a few carried the lyrics with resonant voices, and the gathered handful whispered the chorus, all about little birds soaring to the sky, flying away, flying away. The event took place in a bruised-walled and patched-roofed poor church where a scattering of a congregation of smaller than small people had come to give their good wishes. It was to fellow tsunami survivors as they made their sacred promises to bind the ties of blessed nuptials. I too was present among mainly fisher-folk and was awed by the simplicity of the ceremony and the inspiring meaningfulness of it all. I felt I owed it to Mary to write her story, just so that people would know what rock bottom courage of a mother is all ...
Jul 31, 2021
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Ahasata Igilee – Yanawo Yanawo-by Capt Elmo Jayawardena That’s what they sang for parting wishes at Mary Felicia’s daughter’s wedding. The choir of a few carried the lyrics with resonant voices and the gathered handful whispered the chorus, all about little birds soaring to the sky, flying away, flying away. The event took place in a bruised-walled and patched-roofed poor church where a scattering of a congregation of smaller than small people had come to give their good wishes. It was to fellow tsunami survivors as they made their sacred promises to bind the ties of blessed nuptials. I too was present among this mainly fisher-folk and was awed by the simplicity of the ceremony and the inspiring meaningfulness of it all. I felt I owed it to Mary to write her story, just so that people would know what rock bottom courage of a mother is all about. Her ...
Hobson’s or “Homben Yana” Choice?-by Capt Elmo Jayawardena Image Source:History Works Way back in the 16th century there lived a man in Cambridge by the name of Thomas Hobson. He rented and sold horses and was the proud owner of a stable that had 40 stallions of all colours and breeds. Anyone who wanted to rent a horse from him to ride the paddock or journey into the far horizon, paid money and got a horse. There was one condition, the renter was not allowed to select the horse. The ‘wanna be’ rider had only one choice. He had to take the horse that was in the stall nearest to the door. It was a simple matter of either ‘take it or leave it.’ When the word spread about this, it became known among possible horse renters that what they got was ‘Hobson’s Choice’. Yet, they had one guarantee. The ...
