Ministry of Defence has said today that at present, there are no pilots in service at Maldives National Defence Force (MNDF) who hold a license to operate Dornier flights.
Ministry of Defence has said today that at present, there are no pilots in service at Maldives National Defence Force (MNDF) who hold a license to operate Dornier flights.
The Dornier flight was initially operated by Indian military personnel. They have since been replaced with civilian experts from India.
In 2021, two MNDF officers were trained to operate Dornier. These are First Lieutenant Ibrahim Shareef and Lieutenant Ahmed Ali. However, neither were granted the opportunity to operate the flight.
Ministry of Defence initially refused to disclose information regarding this when Mihaaru News queried why the MNDF officers had not been allowed to operate the flight. Under the Right to Information Act, the Information Commissioner ordered the ministry to reveal the information.
However, with the deadline provided for this expiring, Defence Ministry decided to appeal the ICOM order at the High Court. Then, the case was withdrawn on orders from President Dr Mohamed Muizzu.
With this, the Defence Ministry provided a response to Mihaaru News.
As per this response:
- 4 MNDF pilots completed the Dornier conversion course
- Of the 4, one left MNDF services in August 2022, and anothe left in August 2023- At present, there are 2 pilots at MNDF who have completed the Dornier conversion course
- However, no MNDF pilots are currently operating any military aircraft in Maldives
Defence Ministry stated that of the two remaining pilots, one pilot's Dornier rating has expired on March 18, 2018, and the other's on March 25, 2022.
The ministry, however, provided no reasons for not having allowed the pilots to operate Dornier crafts when they had been in the service, and before the ratings expired for the two remaining pilots.Defence Ministry further revealed that at present, no MNDF officers were undertaking military aircraft operation trainings in India. However, there are some officers doing pilot trainings in some fly schools abroad, they said.
Initially, the Defence Ministry cited Article 29 of the RTI Act, which grants the Ministry the right to withhold information related to national security.
Sign In
