PETALING JAYA: Spending half a century in the aviation industry can be back-breaking for some.
But the passion of being an aviator kept people like Chief Tharuma Dorai Ratnasingam going, despite the ups and downs in the industry.
Popularly referred to as Chief Dorai, for being bestowed the honorary 'chieftainship' from Nigeria in September 1992, among his peers, the veteran aircraft engineer celebrated his 50 golden years as an aviator, with close friends and family at his USJ 5 home, recently.
Heavy torrential rain did not put a damper for the occasion, which was also held in conjunction with his 68th birthday on March 6.
Among those present were Dorai's wife Rajeswary Poologasingam, 64, and daughter Kalaniti Tharuma Dorai, 37, who are an accounts manager and aviation manager, respectively, with his company Executive Jet Aviation at the Kelana Business Centre in Subang.
"I guess I have almost seen it all – from the birth and growth of civil and general aviation in the country.
"It was a struggle in the early years when the country was progressing after Independence (1957) and our aviation industry was still at its fledgling stage.
"I never can imagine that I survived that long in an industry that is not so lucrative for privateers like me," said Chief Dorai, who was born in 1954.
Chief Dorai is easily recognisable in the industry owing to his afro-style curly hair and 'wing-shaped' moustache – somewhat resembling the famous German physicist, Albert Einstein.
He is, perhaps, the longest serving local, private aviator – engineer-cum-pilot – ever since he plunged into the industry as an 18-year-old aircraft maintenance apprentice with Malaysia Air Charter (MAC) on Sept 12, 1972.
The now defunct MAC, better known as MAC Air, was formed in 1965.
He had joined MAC after finishing his Form Five Senior Cambridge at a High School Setapak in Kuala Lumpur.
"In 1975, I went to Perth, Scotland to pursue a course as a licenced aircraft maintenance engineer, for two years.
"To gain exposure, I later worked for a year with an aviation company in Castle Donnington near the East Midlands airport in England before returning home briefly, only to venture into Africa thereon," he said.
MAC Air was the backbone of general aviation at a time when road transport was arduous and it provided the vital link for workers from iron mines, and the oil, gas and plantation sectors -between Kuala Lumpur and the east coast of the peninsula.
Read more about the MAC: click here
Chief Dorai briefly worked for PMAT in Subang, upon his return home from Nigeria in 1992, where he had been doing some aviation work for 10 years for Aero Contractors of Nigeria.
"I still vividly recall my first office set up at the Pan-Malayan Air Transport (PMAT) facility, in what is referred to as 'Hangar B', at the Sultan Abdul Aziz Shah airport in Subang.
"I teamed up with PMAT's Piarruddin Fathoddin to undertake general aircraft maintenance, after finishing my tenure with Aero Contractors in Nigeria which is a subsidiary of Schreiner Airways of the Netherlands.
"There were only a handful of us die-hards who were willing to go the mile, in search of some success in unchartered territory.
"Some of us managed somehow, others thrived, while some got burnt," said Chief Dorai.
In 1993, he established Executive Jet Aviation - in Subang and at the Sultan Azlan Shah airport in Ipoh, Perak - which has been running now for nearly 30 years.
He reminisced how at the height of his success, his company employed over 50 technical, training and administrative staff.
"But the advent of the Covid-19 pandemic almost brought us to our knees, when business took a sharp downturn.
"To keep us afloat and to optimise resources and reduce overheads, we had to lay off staff.
"We have just about 14 now," said Chief Dorai.
Meanwhile, some of Chief Dorai's aviation associates spoke credibly of him.
MEC executive chairman Datuk M. Ram Nair, whose company deals with green technology, knew Chief Dorai since 1983 when he was servicing Wira Kris Schreiner aircraft.
"I was with MAC as a young 29-year-old engineer and Chief Dorai was very helpful in showing me the ropes and giving valuable pointers.
"It helped me go a long way in my career," said Nair, 61.
Retired RMAF electrical mechanic Herbert Jacob, 68, was Chief Dorai's schoolmate at La Salle Sentul.
"In later years of our lives, we bumped into each other frequently at Chief Dorai's facility in Ipoh and shared many commonalities in our jobs," said Herbert.
Former Royal Selangor Flying Club pilot Maniam Kanan, 73, had great moments with Chief Dorai since 1981 at various locations.
"He was instrumental in encouraging me to establish my own aircraft maintenance engineering firm Atas Aero in Senai, Johor.
"I knew Chief Dorai had a good track record and was meticulous in his work," said Maniam.
Air Adventure Flying Club president David Gunaseelan, 53, found Chief Dorai a reliable hand in the industry.
"He knows his task and what to do, especially during critical moments," said David, a sound engineer for the audio-visual industry.
The club's training head Andreas Walther, 64, found Chief Dorai to possess incredible knowledge: "He knows what needs to be done.
"I particularly admire him for his expertise in documentation of products, services and systems which makes our tasks much easier."
Walther, a German, has known Chief Dorai for over 25 years.