Captain Azrul speaks to our Secondary students

Captain Azrul pilots the Airbus A350/30, and has been with MAS for 31 years with over 11500 hours flown. As his father was Malaysian diplomat, he was inspired to become a pilot after having travelled to several countries as a young child, where he would often be invited to the cockpit by the pilots.

Captain Azrul delivered a thoroughly engaging talk to our Y9-13 pupils, but teaching us the value and importance of hard work and determination. He used the example of the MAS pilot training, based on the key principle of competency and evidence based training. Competency is broken down into knowledge, skill and attitude where we must focus on each of these sectors individually to achieve success. Knowledge would include the actual content involved, such as when we learn in class or do or own computer based learning. Then, we would apply this knowledge to the skills we need to now, such as, for a pilot, integrated procedures training or using a full flight simulator. He taught us that this mentality applies to everything, include being students at BSKL; we learn about a maths equations or the function of the heart and in class, study to ensure we know the entire topic, and then apply this knowledge to a skills based context through resources like past papers. There was one final component of competency that Captain Azrul taught us: Attitude. In the context of MAS pilot training, this meant evaluating human performance, as well as understanding the limitations on humans in the plane; 90% of plane accidents are due to human error. Hence, he said, to fix this we must place emphasis on the human factors of our work, which he said is the most important part of the training. In the cockpit, the pilots and cabin crew are all of different backgrounds, so good teamwork and leadership is crucial. This even relates to our own school community at BSKL. We have many students and staff from different countries, with different cultures, so it is by working together and putting our differences aside, we will be able to accomplish so much more.

We are extremely grateful to Captain Azrul for taking the time out of his busy schedule to teach us these valuable lessons, and we hope that our students will carry these into all their future endeavours.

Captain Azrul was the pilot in command of this "crabbing maneuver".

Written by Sasha Year 11

Photos by Vitoria Year 13