Michael Etiang is a Ugandan

airline pilot An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its directional flight controls. Some other aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are also considered aviators because they are ...

and

business executive A business executive is a person responsible for running an organization, although the exact nature of the role varies depending on the organization. Executives run companies or government agencies. They create plans to help their organizations gr ...

, who served as the chief pilot of

Uganda Airlines Uganda Airlines, legally Uganda National Airlines Company, is the flag carrier of Uganda. The company is a revival of the older Uganda Airlines which operated from 1977 until 2001. The current carrier began flying in August 2019. Location T ...

, the revived national airline of

Uganda Uganda, officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered to the east by Kenya, to the north by South Sudan, to the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south-west by Rwanda, and to the ...

, from April 2019. until November 2022. He concurrently serves as

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

at Uganda Airlines, on both the CRJ900-ER and the A330-841 equipment.

Background and education

Etiang was born in

Tororo District Tororo District is a district in the Eastern Region of Uganda. The town of Tororo serves as the district headquarters. Location Tororo District is bordered by Mbale District to the north, Manafwa District to the north-east, Kenya to the east, B ...

. His late father, Paul Orono Etiang (1938—2020), was a civil servant, politician, diplomat and community leader. Etiang attended

Bentham Grammar School Bentham Grammar School was an independent school A private school or independent school is a school not administered or funded by the government, unlike a State school, public school. Private schools are schools that are not dependent up ...

, in the United Kingdom. He obtained a bachelor's degree in Law and Politics from the

School of Oriental and African Studies The School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS University of London; ) is a public research university in London, England, and a member institution of the federal University of London. Founded in 1916, SOAS is located in the Bloomsbury area ...

at the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a collegiate university, federal Public university, public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The ...

. In 1993, Etiang was admitted to the East African Civil Aviation Academy, in Soroti, Uganda, where he obtained his commercial pilot licence. Later, he obtained an ICAO

airline transport pilot licence The airline transport pilot license (ATPL), or in the United States of America, an airline transport pilot (ATP) certificate, is the highest level of aircraft pilot certificate. In the United States, those certified as airline transport pilots ...

. Over the years he has flown for a number of domestic and foreign airlines including Eagle Air Uganda, ZanAir, DAS Air Cargo, Virgin Nigeria,

JetLink Express JetLink Express was a Kenyan regional airline with its head office in the Freight Complex in Embakasi, Nairobi. It operated out of Jomo Kenyatta International Airport. All flight activities have been stopped since 16 November 2012, due to financ ...

Rwandair RwandAir Limited is the flag carrier airline of Rwanda, operating from its main hub at Kigali International Airport. The airline serves 25 destinations across various regions, including East Africa, Central Africa, West Africa, Southern Africa, ...

Fly540 Five Forty Aviation Ltd, trading as Fly540, is a low-cost airline which commenced operations in 2006 and is based in Nairobi, Kenya, operating both passenger and cargo services. The airline had two subsidiary airlines, Fly540 Ghana (suspended in ...

(today

Fastjet Fastjet Limited is an African airline that began flight operations in 2012. It is headquartered in Johannesburg and serves regional flights between South Africa, Botswana and Zimbabwe. History Initial proposals In June 2012, to start ope ...

), and

Garuda Indonesia Garuda Indonesia is the flag carrier of Indonesia, headquartered at Soekarno–Hatta International Airport near Jakarta. A successor of KLM Interinsulair Bedrijf, it is a member of SkyTeam airline alliance and the second-largest airline of Ind ...

. As of April 2018, Etiang had over 18 years of flying experience, with over 12,000 flying hours on his record.

Career

At the time he was hired for this job, he was serving as the Training Manager (CRJ Aircraft) at

RwandAir RwandAir Limited is the flag carrier airline of Rwanda, operating from its main hub at Kigali International Airport. The airline serves 25 destinations across various regions, including East Africa, Central Africa, West Africa, Southern Africa, ...

, where he has been employed since 2012. He has also served as training captain at

and Jetlink, both in neighboring

Kenya Kenya, officially the Republic of Kenya, is a country located in East Africa. With an estimated population of more than 52.4 million as of mid-2024, Kenya is the 27th-most-populous country in the world and the 7th most populous in Africa. ...

. He played the same role at

, the national airline of

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...

. His aviation career spanned over twenty years, as of 2019. In his new position as chief pilot at Uganda National Airlines Company, he is responsible for making sure that all pilots are trained and are current with their competencies and skills. He also manages flight and ground personnel, schedules flights and coordinates aircraft maintenance. He serves as a member of the airline's senior management team. He was part of the four-person Ugandan cockpit crew who piloted the first two CRJ-900 aircraft purchased by Uganda National Airlines Company, from Mirabel, Quebec, Canada, to Entebbe, Uganda, in April 2019. In 2020, he underwent further training and qualified as captain on the

Airbus Airbus SE ( ; ; ; ) is a Pan-European aerospace corporation. The company's primary business is the design and manufacturing of commercial aircraft but it also has separate Airbus Defence and Space, defence and space and Airbus Helicopters, he ...

330 class of aircraft. On 22 December 2020, Etiang led the crew who flew the first A330-800 to join the Uganda Airlines fleet. The aircraft, 5X-NIL named Mount Elgon, flew from

Toulouse Toulouse (, ; ; ) is a city in southern France, the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Haute-Garonne department and of the Occitania (administrative region), Occitania region. The city is on the banks of the Garonne, River Garonne, from ...

, France to

Entebbe Entebbe is a city in Central Region, Uganda, Central Uganda which is located on Lake Victoria peninsula, approximately southwest of the Ugandan capital city, Kampala. Entebbe was once the seat of government for the Protectorate of Uganda pri ...

, Uganda, as Flight UR404.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Etiang, Michael Living people Teso people Year of birth missing (living people) Ugandan aviators Commercial aviators Ugandan business executives East African Civil Aviation Academy alumni Alumni of SOAS University of London People from Tororo District People from Eastern Region, Uganda