Six-Hour Delay: United Airlines Scrambles After Pilot Flies Without Travel Passport
Media reports indicate that a United Airlines Boeing 787 aircraft flying from Los Angeles to China was forced to turn back after it was discovered that the pilot was flying without a foreign travel passport. The aircraft departed Los Angeles at 2 PM on Saturday with 257 passengers and 13 crew members, heading northwest across the Pacific Ocean towards Shanghai. However, after about two hours of flight, the aircraft turned back and returned to San Francisco, landing around 5 PM the same day, according to the FlightAware website. In a statement released about the incident, United Airlines noted, “The pilot did not have his travel passport on board the aircraft. That evening, we organized a new crew to transport our customers to their destination. Customers were provided with meal vouchers and compensation.” Nevertheless, the new crew departed again around 9 PM that same night and is expected to be approximately six hours delayed in reaching Shanghai. The translation captures the key details of the original Sinhala-language article, highlighting the unusual circumstance of a pilot flying internationally without the necessary travel documentation and the subsequent steps taken by the airline to manage the situation.
University lectures Guyendra Gayantha’s wife also passed away
Dr. N.D.G. Gayantha of the Psychology Department in the Faculty of Philosophy at Kelaniya University recently passed away in a road accident. Guyendra Gayantha’s wife also passed away today (26th). According to reports, she also died from a recent road accident, having sustained serious injuries and was in critical condition while receiving treatment in the intensive care unit of the Colombo National Hospital. The deceased Satisha Nilanthi was also a university lecturer. Recently, the doctor was returning from a trip to Jaffna, Nagadeepa with his three small children and family members of his wife when he unfortunately met with a motor vehicle accident on the Central Expressway. The van they were traveling in collided with a lorry, causing Dr. Gayantha to lose his life instantly. The three injured children, his wife, his wife’s younger brother, and his wife’s mother were receiving treatment at the Colombo National Hospital. His wife’s mother and the three children had already been discharged and recovered. Satisha Nilanthi, who was receiving treatment in the intensive care unit with critical injuries from the accident, had her brother also pass away recently, with his final rites conducted on the 24th in Boralesgamuwa Kanatte. Today, at the time of her passing, Satisha Nilanthi was 42 years old and a mother of three young children. So far, three individuals have lost their lives in this road accident. Satisha Nilanthi was an alumna of Gothami Balika Vidyalaya in Colombo and was born in 1983.