When it felt like his life was falling apart, his wife kept it all together.
That’s how former Singapore Airlines (SIA) First Officer Cyrano Latiff describes the uphill struggle to rebuild his life and career after surviving Singapore’s worst-ever aircraft disaster.
The 46-year-old Singaporean was one of three pilots who was in the cockpit of the ill-fated SQ006, which ploughed into heavy construction equipment as it tried to take off from Taiwan’s Chiang Kai-Shek airport on the night of 31 October, 2000.
83 of the 179 passengers on board were killed, including several crew members.
(Read details of the crash here.)
“It was a difficult period for my family as my three kids back then were still young,” Cyrano told Yahoo! Singapore as he described how his life went into a tailspin in the immediate aftermath of the crash.
“My three kids back then knew something had happened and they didn’t have any after thought or emotions because they were so young, and when I was away, my wife kept it all together,” he added.
“I must give all the credit to my wife. She is a very strong person who kept the family together,” he said of his wife, who works as a service quality consultant in the food and beverage industry. They met back in junior college and have been married for over 20 years.
Looking back, he recalled how his wife stood by him throughout.
“She made sure everything was taken care of, especially to the kids. It was a slightly similar situation when I left the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) as an infantry officer to take up this flying opportunity as a cadet pilot in 1994,” said Cyrano, who was with the SAF for 12 years.
“Back then, she supported the family while I spent my weekdays as a cadet pilot at Seletar on an allowance of S$1,000 a month before becoming a First Officer.”
“After the tragedy in 2000, we downgraded our living because I was terminated by SIA and we moved from our condominium to a 4-room HDB flat. We didn’t take any holidays, ate out less and cooked more at home and it was tough financially,” said Cyrano, who moved his family back to a condo a few years ago.
In 2003, though, Cyrano said he welcomed his fourth kid to the family, calling it a ”positive distraction” from the tragedy.
Today, his four children — three boys, one aged 7 and a pair of 19-year-old twins, and a daughter, 18 – are aware of what happened on that fateful, stormy night in Taiwan.
“They needed to understand what happened because there are implications as they are the children of the pilot of the crash but I am glad that they are not disturbed,” said Cyrano.
“My wife and I make it a point to explain to them what they read about in the papers,” he said.
Investigators collecting evidence from the crashed position 05R runway at Taipei Chiang Kai-shek International Airport on 3 Nov 2000. (AFP Photo)
From flying to teaching
Despite having to live with painful memories of the crash for the last decade, Cyrano reveals that flying has never been far from his mind.
“After completing my secondary school education, I applied to be a RSAF pilot trainee but was rejected and I thought my dream of flying was gone,” he said.
“However, the opportunity came up again when I was serving in the army. So I reapplied in 1994 to be a cadet pilot and when I was accepted, I finally had a chance to realise my dream of flying.”
When his services were terminated by SIA following the crash in 2002, he joined Lufthansa as an aeronautical consultant for two years before venturing into the food and beverage industry.
However, the teaching bug hit him in 2008 when Temasek Polytechnic’s (TP) Engineering School opened its doors for him to lecture in its Diploma in Aviation Management & Services (AMS), a three-year course that prepares graduates for an aviation career spanning airport management and operations, air traffic control and aviation safety and security.
“It was an opportunity TP gave and I took it. I had to adapt quickly and I turned my experiences into teaching modules, field trips and case studies for the students to take up when they go into the industry because it’s applicable. Teaching and sharing from a surviving flight crew who has gone through the whole nine yards is a very different and unique perspective altogether,” said Cyrano.
AMS’ section head, Abbas Ismail, himself a former airport management staff at Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS), feels that Cyrano’s presence has been a big boost for the course.
“He inspires the students and his experience is an asset. Back then, we were a new diploma programme and he was very supportive and contributed a lot of ideas,” said the 45-year-old Abbas. “With him being a pilot, it helped us a lot beyond our expertise with his first-hand account.”
