Kamil... More than a pilot!
a memoir by capt. Kamil Abu Bakar
One of 17 pioneer pilots who joined Malaysia Airlines on the very first day our national airline took to the skies.
This is not the usual tale of a distinguished career. It is the story of a man who spent 39 years in the skies, flew every aircraft in the Malaysia Airlines fleet, logged more than 24,000 accident-free flying hours, and retired with an unblemished record — yet whose greatest battles were fought on the ground.
Captain Mohd. Kamil Abu Bakar was one of 17 pioneer pilots who joined MAS on its very first day of operations in 1972. Over nearly four decades, he witnessed the airline at its proudest and at its most turbulent. He navigated not only weather systems and flight paths, but the quieter turbulence of office politics, institutional change, and the weight of carrying lives — literally and figuratively — in his hands.
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This memoir goes beyond aviation. It is about leadership under pressure, faith in uncertain times, difficult decisions, and the quiet courage to do what is right — even when no one is watching. It is the story of a man who understood that doing the right thing is rarely the easy thing, and chose to do it anyway, again and again.
At its heart, this book asks a question that reaches far beyond the cockpit: what does it mean to hold your ground with grace — to lead not by title, but by example?
PRICE: RM100
ISBN: 978-629-94611-3-5
About the Author
Capt. Mohd. Kamil Abu Bakar was born in Kampong Putih, Kota Bharu, Kelantan — the third of six children in a family that was not poor in the way that involves hunger, but not comfortable either. He left home at thirteen for St. John's Institution in Kuala Lumpur, then the Boys Wing of Royal Military College at Sungei Besi, where he played hockey without a helmet and kept notes so meticulous his younger brother used them to pass his own examinations five years later.
He was supposed to study medicine in Alexandria. A radio announcement changed everything.
In August 1971, he boarded a Philippine Airlines DC-8 to Manila with sixteen other young Malaysians to train as cadet pilots. By October 1972, they were flying for a national airline that had existed for less than a month. Over the next 39 years, he flew every aircraft in the Malaysia Airlines fleet — from the Fokker Friendship to the Boeing 747-400 — logged more than 24,000 accident-free flying hours, and served as Director of Flight Operations, Chief Pilot Flight Safety and Security, and Senior Vice President of Operations. He was, for a period, the largest individual shareholder of Malaysia Airlines — an employee who had saved enough to invest in the institution he served, having never borrowed from a bank in his life.
He bought his houses cash. He drives a 1965 Mercedes-Benz 220 SE, purchased in 1990. He wore a white Muslim skull cap in the cockpit from his first day as Captain in 1977. He performed Umrah on Tuesday afternoons in Mecca for fifty riyals because the career put him within reach of it and he saw no reason not to.
He lives in Kuala Lumpur with his wife Rohani. He has four children, seven grandchildren, and is currently learning to recite the Quran properly — a project he began at sixty-three and has not yet finished, because at every stage something intervened and he did not give up.
This is his 10th book.