From the I.T. Ryanair Capt Unfit to Fly

cyrusdvirus

A RYANAIR Boeing 737 captain involved in a serious incident during a thunderstorm near Rome was psychologically unfit to fly and his co-pilot, who had no experience of flying in bad weather, could not navigate the aircraft properly, an inquiry by Italian air accident investigators has found.

The captain, a Polish national, had attended the funeral of his infant son only a few days previously and told investigators he didn’t take extra leave because he feared losing his job.

The flight got lost in its attempts to land at Rome’s Fiumicino airport after it aborted an attempt to land at another Rome airport, Ciampino, during a thunderstorm.

Air traffic controllers were forced to intervene to prevent the possibility of mid-air collisions as the Ryanair jet either ignored controllers’ instructions or else failed to pick them up because they were on the wrong radio frequency, the Italian report concluded.

At one stage the aircraft flew at more than 322km/h just 450ft above the ground, when it should have been much higher. It also descended below a safe height near hills. At one stage during the incident, the Ryanair aircraft continued flying straight despite being instructed by controllers to turn right.

The incidents occurred on a daytime flight from Niederrhain, 70 km from Dusseldorf, to Rome’s Ciampino airport in September 2005 but it was almost four months before Italian investigators were told of it by the Irish Air Accident Investigation Branch. The report by the Italian government’s air accident investigation branch, the ANSV, has only recently been published.

Co-operation between the captain and co-pilot was poor, the report added. In addition, the inexperienced Dutch co-pilot was entering severe weather for the first time in his 475 flying hours of which just 300 hours had been spent in the cockpit of a Boeing 737. Investigators said he couldn’t cope with navigating the aircraft and programming the flight management computer. However he was credited with taking the decision to abort the approach and divert to a third Rome airfield, Pescaro, where they landed without further incident.

The captain left Ryanair two years later. The co-pilot has since been promoted to captain.

The pilots also failed to preserve the flight’s records in the aircraft’s black boxes as required by Ryanair regulations.

Reconstruction of the incident, described as “serious” by Italian investigators, was only made possible by the radar records and air traffic tapes which showed the aircraft meandering around the skies above the airport and failing to line up properly with the runway.

The incident happened on their fourth flight of an 8.5 hour day which had started before 4am and investigators suggested fatigue may have been a contributory factor. Rome air traffic controllers were also faulted for failing to give the crew timely warnings of weather changes and using confusing phraseology. Investigators also called for improvements in local radar coverage.

When asked by investigators why he went back to work within days of burying his young son, who died after a three-month illness, the captain said he feared he would be sacked by Ryanair if he took any more leave. Ryanair yesterday said the man had no basis for saying this.

Both pilots were grounded when Ryanair learned of the incident and were given counselling and training, according to a statement by the Irish Aviation Authority (IAA). “Actions taken by them following their own investigation was prompt and provided all necessary support, guidance and training to the pilots.” The incident was also investigated by the IAA which determined it was the result of “an unfortunate human factors incident which should not have arisen” according to the IAA statement.

The Irish Airline Pilots Association said the IAA, which regulates Ryanair, should take part of the responsibility for the incident. “This serious incident focuses attention on a particular corporate culture in Irish aviation,” said association president Evan Cullen. “The very fact that an individual at the front line of a safety critical industry, is operating in fear of losing his job so soon after the death of his child raises serious concerns about the ability of the Irish Aviation Authority to regulate this industry.”

I know there are people here who will try to use this as an excuse to have a little pop at Ryanair, but can anyone honestly say that they think Ryanair would have let the pilot go if he presented himself as unfit to fly after suffering sucha personal tragedy???

I don't think so, but it shows how peoples (even employees) perceptions can be affected by a wider reputation that Ryanair has, deserved or undeserved as being hard to work for.

ch252

That happened a while ago now, but I don't think ryanair would have let him fly if they thought he was at all unfit. He may not have told his colleagues about his infant's death, it's his decision wether or not he does so like, so then it's up to the pilot to declare himself unfit for flight. It could have happened to any airline I'd say. I think the problem in this case was that he didn't declare himself unfit. I had a read of this thread on pprune a while and that's what they seemed to think about it

joey54

You're right, he should have declared himself unfit to fly but the problem was that he was too scared to do so for fear of losing his job. This fault lies with Ryan air. Ryan air staff should feel that they are able to tell their employer that they are unable to work and not have the fear of losing their job. Ryan air would need to improve their working relationship with staff if they want to avoid incidents like this one.

The most important thing is that at the time nobody was injured or killed.

highlydebased

Media hype, as usual. (Not saying there was not a problem or anything)

Fratton Fred

Would there any difference in the employment terms between a pilot employed in Poland, Holland or Ireland?

Why do they employ so many eastern europeans, is it simply because they are "Cheap"?

PhoenixRising

The question is why was it he felt he couldn't call in as unfit to fly. Perhaps it was all the other colleagues of his he witnessed being bullied and intimidated by management or singled out for 'special attention' when they tried it. Or maybe not.