Family claim pilot is the victim of a miscarriage of justice

THE family of a pilot of an Aer Lingus plane blamed for a crash near Birmingham airport 50 years ago maintains he is the victim of a miscarriage of justice, despite the results of a fresh inquiry which held him responsible for the accident.

The late Capt Thomas J Hanley was the captain of an Aer Lingus Dakota DC3 aircraft, the St Kieran, which was forced to crash land on a farm near Birmingham on New Year’s Day 1953 when both engines cut out. Only the co-pilot among the crew of three and 22 passengers received any injuries.

The pilot was given a lifetime flying ban by the Minister for Industry and Commerce after an official inquiry held that he had mistakenly connected both engines to one fuel tank which ran dry. It found that both pilots should have known the reason for the loss of power and taken proper remedial action.

Capt Hanley never accepted this conclusion and emigrated shortly afterwards to Hawaii where he worked as a flight dispatcher at Honolulu International Airport until his retirement in 1974 when he returned to Ireland. He died in 1991 at the age of 85.

Although his pilot’s licence was restored in 1977 “without prejudice” by the Minister for Transport, Padraig Faulkner, Capt Hanley and his family continued to campaign for the holding of a fresh inquiry as the verdict of the 1953 investigation had not been quashed.

In 2001, the Minister for Public Enterprise Mary O'Rourke ordered a review of the original inquiry after a 50-year campaign by the Hanley family. However, the results of the review which were announced yesterday have failed to exonerate Capt Hanley and his co-pilot, Patrick Whyte.

The review found that it was reasonable for the 1953 inquiry team to conclude, as a matter of probability, that fuel mismanagement had been the cause of the accident.

The review conducted by senior counsel Patrick Keane SC also found that no new evidence had emerged to suggest that pilot error was not the probable cause of the crash.

It rejected claims of bias and unfairness made by Capt Hanley’s family to the inquiry.

Reacting to the findings, the Hanley family said they were disappointed that the report had not cleared the pilots.

They also criticised Mr Keane’s inquiry for being “too narrow” in its review of new evidence.

“These two men were used as scapegoats so that Aer Lingus would not have to admit flaws in its refuelling system,” said a statement issued by the family’s lawyers.

However, Patricia Hanley, the pilot’s daughter said last night that she was reassured that the latest inquiry had acknowledged that there were flaws in the original investigation and its transcripts.

She also welcomed the acknowledgement of the “heroic achievement” of the pilots in landing the aircraft in difficult terrain without the loss of life.

Ms Hanley vowed to continue the fight to vindicate her late father’s name and reputation. She said further legal options would continue to be explored by the family.