Aer Lingus pilot ‘should have retried landing’ at Dublin Airport

An air safety expert yesterday told the High Court the approach of the Aer Lingus flight which it is claimed made an alleged heavy landing at Dublin Airport was unstable from six seconds before it touched down.

Former pilot Fintan Ryan told the court that, in those six seconds, a decision could have been made to go around to try and land again.

He was giving evidence in the third day of the action, where it is claimed that flight EI582 from Malaga to Dublin in November 2009 landed in a heavy, dramatic fashion with an alleged inappropriate, excessive rate of descent.

Cassandra Reddin, aged 33, of Woodlands Manor, Ratoath, Co Meath, sued Aer Lingus over the back and neck injuries she claimed she suffered when the flight landed at Dublin Airport on November 19, 2009.

She has claimed there was an alleged failure to adequately supervise in terms of the landing of the plane by a co-pilot and she suffered soft tissue neck and back injury and whiplash and that, afterwards, she had nightmares where she woke up screaming. Aer Lingus has denied all the claims.

Ms Reddin said passengers were screaming and duty- free in overhead baggage smashed and alcohol poured on passengers during the landing.

Yesterday, Cpt Ryan said that when the plane bounced it was the second opportunity to make a decision to go around to attempt to land again.

Cpt Ryan said there is a crosswind phenomenon at Dublin Airport and when it is turbulent it is a full-time job to manage an aeroplane. He said that when there is a bounce in a crosswind, the plane can be “like a leaf flowing in the wind” until it gets on the ground.

He said that, given the conditions, the aircraft should have had a rate of descent of about 500ft to 600ft per minute but, 16ft above the runway, the rate of descent was 1,400ft per minute when it should have been reducing to 300ft to 400ft per minute.

“It was inevitable it was going to be a firm landing,” he added.

The court heard, in her air safety report 19 days after the landing, the pilot referred to a heavy landing and said the aircraft bounced on landing and settled back on the runway.

Finbarr Fox, counsel for Ms Reddin, said Aer Lingus contends the plane did not bounce and the rate of descent was “a momentary blip” and it was a sudden gust of wind as it landed that gave the plane its unusual landing.