Bereaved Ryanair Capt flies unstable approach to Rome

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.”

Source: Irish Times

Of course, Ryanair might have been sympathetic to the pilot. But regardless, Ryanair have clearly left their pilots in a position where they feel afraid to report if they feel unfit to fly! That is extremely dangerous on Ryanair’s part.

People handle grief in many different ways…some people go to pieces while others might find keeping active by staying busy helps them cope…however this smacks of someone very afraid of their employer…the child had only passed a few days earlier…i should imagine he was still very much in shock!!!

Ryanair may not be the only airline having flight crew scared to declare their psychological state.

In the current economic recession it is essential that the ethics of increasing airline profits/cash flow (albeit important) must take a lesser priority to passenger safety, flight crew health and where necessary it is better to delay or even cancel a flight than risk a complete airliner with passengers on board.

If the International safety, insurance and legal ‘chappies’ get their teeth into this (if proven) they will have a ‘field day’ and Ryanair may have to install more than chargeable toilets to make any money, or close down operations.

They could try installing pedals under each seat for passengers to help keep the jet rotors turning once at cruising speed (thereby keeping fuel costs down). A true Budget airline.

Of course, Ryanair might have been sympathetic to the pilot. But regardless, Ryanair have clearly left their pilots in a position where they feel afraid to report if they feel unfit to fly! That is extremely dangerous on Ryanair’s part.

And that I suspect is the truth in the matter, also with many employers these days…

Of course, Ryanair might have been sympathetic to the pilot. But regardless, Ryanair have clearly left their pilots in a position where they feel afraid to report if they feel unfit to fly! That is extremely dangerous on Ryanair’s part.

May I point out one very important FACT.

he had not informed anyone of the situation

it may say

partly out of concern for his job

I would imagine that Ryanair and Mo’L would be very sympathetic to the pilots situation and would NOT have made him fly and certainly would NOT have sacked him.

I’m currently sat using one of the over-priced internet machines at Stansted airport and in less than an hour should be pushing back for my first FR flight in years to VLL.

If anyone else flew there, I would have booked with them… and once I land in VLL it is my intention never to fly with them again – so much so that I booked my flight back from XRY with a 3 hour stopover at BCN to fly with Vueling instead!

Italy’s ANSV investigation agency says the captain’s three-month-old son had died just a few days before the Niederrhein-Rome Ciampino flight, but he had not informed anyone of the situation, partly out of concern for his job.

Imagine that eh ? Maybe O’ Riley should put some feckin robots or toliets in the cockpit instead. I bet the poor chap thought he’d get sacked if he dared take time off to grieve !:eek: