Capt. Ruckshan Dassanayake serves as the Head of Training & Chief Flight Instructor of AAC Flight Academy, responsible for the management and oversight of theoretical knowledge and flight training operations in compliance with Civil Aviation Authority of Sri Lanka (CAASL) regulations and international aviation training standards.
He holds a Commercial Pilot Licence (CPL) with Instrument Rating (IR) and Multi-Engine Rating (MER) issued under the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), USA, and converted to CAASL requirements. He also holds a Post Graduate Diploma in Business Administration from EduLink International, Colombo, and a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from the University of Northampton, United Kingdom.
Capt. Dassanayake began his aviation journey at AAC as an ab-initio PPL student in 2002. After completing advanced flight training in the United States, he joined AAC as an Assistant Theoretical Knowledge Instructor in 2006 and completed his Flight Instructor Rating in 2008. He later progressed through senior instructional and operational roles, serving as both Head of Training and Chief Flight Instructor at AAC from 2013 to 2017. Thereafter, he served in similar senior training management capacities at other Approved Training Organisations, gaining broader experience across different training environments and aircraft types.
He returned to AAC in 2023 as Consultant Head of Training and was appointed as both Head of Training and Chief Flight Instructor in 2026. With over 4,000 instructional flying hours, he has extensive experience on the Cessna 152, Cessna 172, Piper Tomahawk PA-38, Piper Arrow PA-28R, and Beech Travel Air BE-95.