Eirjet urged not to sack pilots over Derry blunder

The British Airline Pilots Association (BALPA) is urging the Co Clare-based airline Eirjet not to sack the two pilots who mistakenly landed a passenger plane at a military base in the North yesterday.

The pilots were supposed to land the Ryanair-chartered flight from Liverpool at the City of Derry Airport. They touched down instead on an airstrip at the Ballykelly military base five miles away, apparently believing that they were on a visual approach to Derry.

Eirjet has apologised for the incident, which is under investigation by the British authorities.

The BALPA, meanwhile, said lessons had to be learned, but the incident was a simple human error and the two pilots should not be sacked as a result.