Mangaluru: Over the years, there have been many Mangalureans who have made us proud through their accomplishments on the national and international stages, the latest of whom is 36-year-old Air India Captain, Flight Commander Michael Saldanha. His name has been doing the rounds for the past few days as he was a pilot on one of India’s first Vande Bharat Mission flights, an initiative of the Government of India to bring back stranded Indians that flew from Dubai to Calicut.
What is most impressive about this feat is that he not only volunteered to fly the aircraft that would bring back home 177 Indians (and five infants) when many other pilots backed away, but also that he drove all the way from Mangaluru to Calicut to undertake the risky mission.
Flying on any given day has its own risks. Flying during this time, however, has even greater risks considering how fast the novel coronavirus (which causes COVID-19) spreads. As it so happens, just a day after Capt. Michael Saldanha’s flight landed in Calicut, one of his passengers tested positive for COVID-19, while another passenger who was on another Vande Bharat Mission flight also tested positive for the disease.
Asked if he was worried now that one of his passengers tested positive for COVID-19, Capt. Saldanha replied with a cheerful, “No! Not at all!”
“We all knew the risks of undertaking this mission. I even briefed my crew that even though the passengers have tested negative, they could be carrying the virus so we need to be more cautious and we need to take all the precautions,” he told Newskarnataka.com.
He then went on to explain that before the flight, the passengers were given the rapid test for antibodies to screen for COVID-19. “However, this test is only 70% accurate. Here, the blood is tested and if you are asymptomatic, it will not show up in the test,” he said.
Capt. Saldanha also informed that Air India had prepared a great SOP (Standard Operating Procedure) to be followed by the flight crew to handle the situation.
“As per the SOP, before the passengers could board the flight, we had placed food boxes and water on each seat to reduce contact. All the passengers’ hands were sanitised with hand sanitizers and masks were given to each passenger,” he said.
Asked about social distancing, the Captain said, “We maintained social distancing during boarding; we maintained about 10 feet distance between each passenger. Boarding takes about 20 minutes under normal circumstances, but because of the social distancing measures, it took about an hour for the passengers to board the plane. This caused the flight to get delayed by about half an hour, however, we landed on time.”
While most would assume that social distancing would have been maintained in the aircraft as well, Capt. Saldanha explained that this was not possible. “In these situations, when you are doing an evacuation, you cannot maintain social distancing inside the aircraft. There were a total of 186 seats in our aircraft and there were 177 passengers and five infants. Nine seats at the back of the aircraft were left vacant in case any of the passengers were symptomatic so that they could be isolated there,” he explained.
He went on to add that of the three lavatories in the aircraft, the two at the back were reserved for the passengers and the one in front was reserved for the crew members to avoid cross-contamination. The crew had also placed carts of water bottles at the front of the aircraft and passengers were informed, at regular intervals, that they could come and pick up a bottle in case they were thirsty.
“However, the passengers themselves were so scared that once they sat down, they never got up, not even to use the lavatories,” he added.
Capt. Saldanha also informed Newskarnataka.com that the flight crew were tested before, after and five days after the flight, to ensure that none of them contracts the virus and passes it on to others.
Unlike the passengers, the flight crew (six members- four cabin crew, one pilot and a co-pilot) were asked to self-quarantine at their homes for five days, as they are tested regularly and are provided with the required protective gear to reduce the chances of contracting COVID-19.
Asked why he drove all the way from Mangaluru to Calicut, Capt. Saldanha opined that other pilots might have been apprehensive to undertake the travel till the flight base because of the restrictions and permissions required.
Armed with a special COVID pass, the Captain drove from Mangaluru to Calicut on May 6 and immediately reported at a hospital for the pre-flight COVID test. “I got my results on May 7 morning and flew to Dubai that afternoon,” he said.
Capt. Saldanha was not just unafraid to undertake the mission but was also proud that he was able to serve the country and his fellow Indians. To him, the look of relief on the faces of the passengers as they were boarding the flight, made the trouble worth it.
“When the boarding was going on, I was looking at the passengers and I could feel that they were really scared. At the same time, I could see the happiness on their faces. Initially, I didn’t realise how important the mission was; to me, it was a normal evacuation. But when I saw the passengers’ reaction, I realised how important this flight was to them. Many of the passengers were pregnant women and people who were sick or in wheelchairs,” he said.
The Captain went on to explain that this flight was Dubai’s first evacuation flight to India. “There were big Indian flags hoisted at several places, including the boarding gate, and the sight gave me a sense of patriotism and pride,” he added.
A little bit about Captain Michael Saldanha
Captain Michael Saldanha comes from a prominent family in Mangaluru. He is the second son of Placid and Freida Saldanha, of Valencia. Placid Saldanha is an advocate and a coffee planter and Freida Saldanha is a former faculty member of the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore. Capt. Saldanha’s maternal grandfather was a senior army officer, Col. J.W. Soares, who fought in the Second World War
Captain Michael Saldanha is also a Sr. Check Pilot who trains other pilots to become captains of Air India’s fleet. He is the Base Manager of Air India Express Operations-Mangaluru with 30 pilots and 60 cabin crew members under him.
After completing his education at the St Aloysius Institutions, he graduated with a B.E. degree (rank holder) from R.V. College of Engineering, Bengaluru.
He was one of 100 engineers (out of 30,000 aspirants) who were selected by Air India from the top engineering colleges in India under a special program (the only time Air India has selected engineers as pilots) to be trained as pilots for their new fleet of Super Computerised ‘Boeing’ Aeroplanes.
He was trained at a top US flying school in Florida and graduated with “flying” colours. Interestingly, he was trained by a Sr. US Army Colonel and his grandfather was also a Colonel in the Indian Army.
Capt. Saldanha now has 12 years of flying experience in Air India and is a Sr. Captain (Commander) and Sr. Check Pilot with Air India Express.
