Flight crews reported nearly 300 incidents involving disruptive passengers on Irish aircraft

The latest annual safety review by the IAA also confirms bird strikes continue to pose the biggest risk to the safety of commercial aircraft in Ireland. File picture: Larry Cummins

Unruly passengers are posing a growing threat to the safety of commercial aircraft, with an increase in safety reports about passenger behaviour filed by pilots last year, according to the Irish Aviation Authority.

New figures published by the IAA show flight crews reported 298 incidents involving unruly or difficult passengers on board aircraft during 2022.

In its annual safety performance review for 2022, the IAA said disruptive passengers had now become the second most common safety concern reported by pilots compared to pre-covid times when they represented the seventh highest risk.

Last year’s total of 298 incidents involving unruly passengers compares to the combined total of 216 similar incidents over the previous two years.

The report highlights that about 100 incidents involving disruptive passengers on Irish aircraft in 2022 were classified as posing a medium risk.

The IAA said the threat posed by difficult passengers had been identified by the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) earlier this year as an emerging risk for the 2023 summer season, which led to it launching an awareness campaign in June.

“The conspicuous emergence of this issue on the ramp-up of operations post-covid has been observed by other member states and EASA,” the IAA stated.

Bird strikes

The latest annual safety review by the IAA also confirms bird strikes continue to pose the biggest risk to the safety of commercial aircraft in Ireland.

A total of 1,343 incidents of bird strikes were reported by pilots in 2022, accounting for almost one in five of all reports of safety issues last year.

While the vast majority of incidents involving bird-strikes last year were categorised as low-risk, about 150 incidents were rated as posing a medium risk.

The third most common safety concern reported last year were windshears and microbursts, which can lead to sudden, rapid changes in flying conditions, with 239 incidents logged.

The latest IAA figures show flight crews reported 186 incidents of interference from laser beams last year — up from 175 in 2021.

Pilots also filed 149 reports over concern about fatigue last year.

A recent report by the European Cockpit Association, the representative body of over 40,000 pilots in Europe, found four out of 10 Irish pilots claimed they usually did not have adequate time to recover from fatigue between duties.

In addition, almost two-thirds said they did not believe the risk of fatigue was well managed by their airlines.

The latest IAA safety review shows pilots also reported concern about 35 incidents relating to lightning strikes last year and 36 incidents of encounters with turbulence.

The IAA recorded a total of four non-fatal accidents involving Irish-registered commercial aircraft last year — unchanged on the figure in 2021.

All accidents related to passengers suffering an injury during disembarkation of an aircraft.