The Trinidad and To­ba­go Air­line Pi­lots As­so­ci­a­tion (TTAL­PA) is rec­om­mend­ing that Caribbean Air­lines name one of its new Boe­ing 737 air­craft af­ter ca­lyp­so leg­end Dr Slinger Fran­cis­co, the Mighty Spar­row.

The call came yes­ter­day, the same day Prime Min­is­ter Kam­la Per­sad-Bisses­sar an­nounced at Spar­row’s State-as­sist­ed fu­ner­al that the Grand Stand at the Queen’s Park Sa­van­nah would be re­named in ho­n­our of the cul­tur­al icon.

In a me­dia re­lease, TTAL­PA said it had writ­ten to Trans­port and Civ­il Avi­a­tion Min­is­ter Eli Za­k­our, copy­ing Per­sad-Bisses­sar and oth­er of­fi­cials, to rec­om­mend that an air­craft be named af­ter Spar­row.

The as­so­ci­a­tion said the ges­ture would be a fit­ting trib­ute to Spar­row, al­so known as “The Birdie”, in recog­ni­tion of his tremen­dous con­tri­bu­tion to ca­lyp­so and the cul­ture of Trinidad and To­ba­go.

TTAL­PA al­so ex­tend­ed its con­do­lences to Spar­row’s fam­i­ly as the coun­try bid farewell to the ca­lyp­so leg­end yes­ter­day.