Crash narrowly avoided after pilot mistook hotel for runway

A CHARTER plane with 118 passengers and crew on board narrowly avoided crashing into a hotel near Ballymun after its pilot mistook the lights of the 16-storey building for the runway at Dublin Airport.

A final report into the incident published yesterday established that the Aviajet aircraft was just 200ft above the height of the hotel at Santry Cross before the pilot took corrective action, less than 570 yards from the building.

The report by the Department of Transport’s Air Accident Investigation Unit blamed the near-accident on the decision of the plane’s crew to use only visual cues on their approach into Dublin Airport.