Rise in incidents involving Irish planes

The number of accidents and significant incidents involving Irish-registered commercial aircraft reached their highest levels in many years in 2012.

The Irish Aviation Authority (IAA) confirmed Irish commercial aircraft were involved in seven non-fatal accidents and 24 serious incidents last year.

It also reported an increase in unauthorised runway incursions and cases involving a loss of separation between aircraft.

However, the IAA has stressed the rise reflected an increase in the number of Irish-registered aircraft and that the vast majority of safety-related events posed no danger to the aircraft.

The number of large commercial aircraft registered in Ireland rose by 10% during 2012 to 739 planes.

The five largest operators — Aer Arann, Aer Lingus, Air Contractors, CityJet, and Ryanair conducted over 674,000 flights last year — an increase of 1.7%.

In its annual safety review, the IAA said the majority of accidents occurred while aircraft were on the ground and taxiing or manoeuvring onto a stand, or involved passengers disembarking.

“Accidents that occur under these circumstances are not catastrophic accidents but can result in injuries to passengers and crew or require significant repairs to the aircraft,” the IAA said.

The safety review also reveals a slight increase in the number of runway incursions at Irish airports last year with 43 reported. Most relate to the incorrect presence of an aircraft, vehicle, or person on a runway.

There were 23 cases related to aircraft breaking minimum separation limits between aircraft including one classified as “a major incident”.

The IAA said most cases related to aircraft landing and departing at Dublin Airport where normal limits were marginally reduced during operations to make efficient use of its busy, single runway.

Under EU legislation, Irish airlines must comply with a mandatory reporting regime to record any occurrence which affects or could affect the safety of an aircraft to the IAA.

The authority praised the “mature” reporting culture within Irish airlines which filed 6,674 “occurrence reports” last year. It claimed that 96% of such reports described incidents in which there was no credible scenario in which an accident could occur either to the aircraft or those on board.

More than 700 reports related to the failure of components on board which were not associated with the engine. There were over 550 cases of passengers becoming ill during a flight and over 400 issues relating to air traffic management and communications.

Among the reported incidents, there were over 60 cases linked to procedural errors by flight crews.

There was one fatal aviation accident last year, when a flying instructor and a student pilot died after their light aircraft crash- landed in a field outside Birr, Co Offaly.