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Category Archives: Aviation


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Founding of Aer Lingus, the National Airline of the Republic of Ireland

Aer Lingus (Irish: Aer Loingeas) is founded by the Irish government as the national airline of the Republic of Ireland on April 15, 1936.

Aer Lingus is founded with a capital of £100,000. Its first chairman is Seán Ó hUadhaigh. Pending legislation for Government investment through a parent company, Aer Lingus is associated with Blackpool and West Coast Air Services which advances the money for the first aircraft and operates with Aer Lingus under the common title “Irish Sea Airways.” Aer Lingus Teoranta is registered as an airline on May 22, 1936. The name Aer Lingus is proposed by Richard F. O’Connor, who is County Cork Surveyor, as well as an aviation enthusiast.

On May 27, 1936, five days after being registered as an airline, Aer Lingus’s first service begins between Baldonnel Aerodrome in Dublin and Bristol (Whitchurch) Airport in Bristol, England, using a six-seater de Havilland DH.84 Dragon biplane (registration EI-ABI), named Iolar (Eagle).

Later that year, the airline acquires its second aircraft, a four-engined biplane de Havilland DH.86 Express named Éire, with a capacity of 14 passengers. This aircraft provides the first air link between Dublin and London by extending the Bristol service to Croydon. At the same time, the DH.84 Dragon is used to inaugurate an Aer Lingus service on the Dublin-Liverpool route.

Aer Lingus is established as the national carrier under the Air Navigation and Transport Act (1936). In 1937, the Irish government creates Aer Rianta, now called Dublin Airport Authority (DAA), a company to assume financial responsibility for the new airline and the entire country’s civil aviation infrastructure. In April 1937, Aer Lingus becomes wholly owned by the Irish government via Aer Rianta.

Aer Lingus is privatised between 2006 and 2015. It is a former member of the Oneworld airline alliance, which it leaves on March 31, 2007.

Ryanair owns over 29% of Aer Lingus stock and the Irish state owns over 25% before being bought out by International Airlines Group (IAG) in 2015. The state had previously held an 85% shareholding until the Government’s decision to float the company on the Dublin and London stock exchanges on October 2, 2006. The principal group companies include Aer Lingus Limited, Aer Lingus Beachey Limited, Aer Lingus (Ireland) Limited and Dirnan Insurance Company Limited, all of which are wholly owned.

On May 26, 2015, after months of negotiations on a possible IAG takeover, the Irish government agrees to sell its stake in Aer Lingus. Ryanair retains a 30% stake in the company which it agrees to sell to IAG on July 10, 2015, for €2.55 per share. In August 2015, Aer Lingus’ shareholders officially accept IAG’s takeover offer. IAG subsequently assumed control of Aer Lingus on September 2, 2015.

After the takeover by IAG, it is expected that Aer Lingus would re-enter Oneworld, however, at a press briefing on November 15, 2017, the airline’s then CEO Stephen Kavanagh states that the airline has “no plans to join Oneworld.” The airline is now a wholly owned subsidiary of IAG.

Aer Lingus has codeshare agreements with Oneworld, Star Alliance and SkyTeam members, as well as interline agreements with Etihad Airways, JetBlue and United Airlines. The airline has a hybrid business model, operating a mixed fare service on its European routes and full service, two-class flights on transatlantic routes.

Aer Lingus’s head office is on the grounds of Dublin Airport in Collinstown, County Dublin.


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Death of Thomas Falcon Hazell, World War I Fighter Pilot

Thomas Falcon Hazell, fighter pilot with the Royal Flying Corps and later the Royal Air Force during World War I, dies in Newport, County Mayo, on September 4, 1946. He scores 43 victories in 1917–18 making him the fifth most successful British “flying ace” of the war, the third most successful Irish-born pilot behind Edward Mannock and George McElroy, and the only pilot to survive the war from both groups.

Hazell is born in Roundstone, County Galway, on August 7, 1892. Upon the outbreak of the war in August 1914, he volunteers for service as a private with the South Irish Horse. On October 10 he is commissioned as second lieutenant in the 7th Battalion, Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers. As part of the 49th Brigade in the 16th (Irish) Division, the 7th Inniskillings are initially based at Tipperary, where he is promoted to lieutenant on June 4, 1915. The regiment lands in France in February 1916.

Soon afterwards Hazell transfers to the Royal Flying Corps. In April and May he is assigned to No. 5 Reserve Squadron, based at Castle Bromwich. He is appointed a flying officer on June 5, and survives a severe crash before completing his training. He eventually joins No. 1 Squadron on the Western Front. Flying Nieuport 17 Scouts, he shoots down 20 enemy aircraft between March and August 1917, being appointed a flight commander with the acting rank of captain on May 25, and is awarded the Military Cross on July 26.

After serving as an instructor at the Central Flying School in 1918, Hazell takes command of “A” Flight, No. 24 Squadron, flying the S.E.5a. On August 22, 1918, he shoots down an observation balloon despite its escort of seven Fokker D.VIIs. The escort is led by German ace Ernst Udet, who attacks and riddles Hazell’s petrol tank, propeller, and two longerons with bullets. In spite of this Hazell fights his way back, eyes full of petrol, and lands safely. Udet thinks he has forced the British pilot to crash and actually claims him as his 60th victory. Hazell finishes the war with 43 confirmed kills, the top British surviving ace of the war (excluding Dominion airmen). He is twice awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross. On June 11, 1927, he returns to the RAF Depot at Uxbridge and is placed on the retired list on July 20, 1927 at his own request.

In 1944, at the age of 52, Hazell becomes the commander of “D” Company, 24th (Tettenhall) Battalion, South Staffordshire Home Guard during the later part of World War II.

Hazell dies in Newport, County Mayo, on September 4, 1946, and is buried at the Burrishoole Church of Ireland Cemetery there. In 2014 his grave, which had been largely forgotten and neglected, is restored, repaired, and re-dedicated in a ceremony on August 4, 2014, the 100th anniversary of the declaration of World War I


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Death of Captain George McElroy, World War I Fighter Pilot

Captain George Edward Henry McElroy MC & Two Bars, DFC & Bar, a leading Irish fighter pilot of the Royal Flying Corps and Royal Air Force during World War I, is killed by ground fire on July 31, 1918, while flying over enemy lines. He is credited with 47 aerial victories.

McElroy is born on May 14, 1893 at Donnybrook, County Dublin, to Samuel and Ellen McElroy. He enlists promptly at the start of World War I in August 1914, and is shipped out to France two months later. He is serving as a corporal in the Motor Cyclist Section of the Royal Engineers when he is first commissioned as a second lieutenant on May 9, 1915. While serving in the Royal Irish Regiment he is severely affected by mustard gas and is sent home to recuperate. He is in Dublin in April 1916, during the Easter Rising, and is ordered to help quell the insurrection. He refuses to fire upon his fellow Irishmen, and is transferred to a southerly garrison away from home.

On June 1, 1916 McElroy relinquishes his commission in the Royal Irish Regiment when awarded a cadetship at the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich, from which he graduates on February 28, 1917, and is commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Royal Garrison Artillery.

McElroy is promptly seconded to the Royal Flying Corps, being trained as a pilot at the Central Flying School at Upavon Aerodrome, and appointed a flying officer on June 28. On July 27 his commission is backdated to February 9, 1916, and he is promoted to lieutenant on August 9. On August 15 he joins No. 40 Squadron RFC, where he benefits from mentoring by Edward “Mick” Mannock. He originally flies a Nieuport 17, but with no success in battle. By the year’s end he is flying Royal Aircraft Factory S.E.5s and claims his first victory on December 28.

An extremely aggressive dog-fighter who ignores often overwhelming odds, McElroy’s score soon grows rapidly. He shoots down two German aircraft in January 1918, and by February 18 has run his string up to 11. At this point, he is appointed a flight commander with the temporary rank of captain, and transferred to No. 24 Squadron RFC. He continues to steadily accrue victories by ones and twos. By March 26, when he is awarded the Military Cross, he is up to 18 “kills.” On April 1, the Army’s Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and the Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS) are merged to form the Royal Air Force, and his squadron becomes No. 24 Squadron RAF. He is injured in a landing accident on April 7 when he brushes a treetop while landing. By then he has run his score to 27. While he is sidelined with his injury, on April 22, he is awarded a bar to his Military Cross. Following his convalescence, he returns to No. 40 Squadron in June, scoring three times, on June 26, June 28, and June 30. The latter two triumphs are observation balloons and run his tally to 30.

In July, McElroy adds to his score almost daily, a third balloon busting on July 1, followed by one of the most triumphant months in the history of fighter aviation, adding 17 victims during the month. His run of success is threatened on July 20 by a vibrating engine that entails breaking off an attack on a German two seater and a rough emergency landing that leaves him with scratches and bruises. There is a farewell luncheon that day for his friend Gwilym Hugh “Noisy” Lewis. Their mutual friend “Mick” Mannock pulls McElroy aside to warn him about the hazards of following a German victim down within range of ground fire.

On July 26, “Mick” Mannock is killed by ground fire. Ironically, on that same day, “McIrish” McElroy receives the second Bar to his Military Cross. He is one of only ten airmen to receive the second Bar.

McElroy’s continues apparent disregard for his own safety when flying and fighting can have only one end. On July 31, 1918, he reports destroying a Hannover C for his 47th victory. He then sets out again. He fails to return from this flight and is posted missing. Later it is learned that he had been killed by ground fire. He is 25 years old.

McElroy receives the Distinguished Flying Cross posthumously on August 3, citing his shooting down 35 aeroplanes and three observation balloons. The Bar would arrive still later, on September 21, and would laud his low-level attacks. In summary, he shoots down four enemy aircraft in flames and destroys 23 others, one of which he shares destroyed with other pilots. He drives down 16 enemy aircraft “out of control” and out of the fight. In one of those cases, it is a shared success. He also destroys three balloons.

McElroy is interred in Plot I.C.1 at the Laventie Military Cemetery in La Gorgue, northern France.


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Birth of Monsignor James Horan

James Horan is born in Partry, County Mayo, on May 5, 1911. He is a parish priest of Knock, County Mayo. He is most widely known for his successful campaign to bring an airport to Knock, his work on Knock basilica, and is also credited for inviting Pope John Paul II to visit Knock Shrine in 1979.

Educated at St. Jarlath’s College, Tuam, Horan trains for the priesthood in St. Patrick’s College, Maynooth. He is ordained in 1936, and his first post is in Glasgow, where he remains for three years. Having served as chaplain on an ocean liner and briefly in Ballyglunin, County Galway, he becomes curate in Tooreen, a small townland close to Ballyhaunis, County Mayo. While there, he organises the construction of a dance hall, which becomes a popular local amenity. He secures financing for the project by collecting £8,000 on a tour of American cities. After also serving in Cloonfad, County Roscommon, he is transferred to Knock in 1963, where he becomes parish priest in 1967. He is troubled by the struggles of daily life and mass emigration in the west of Ireland and he works to improve the living standards of the local community.

While stationed at Knock, Horan oversees the building of a new church for Knock Shrine, which is dedicated in 1976. The shrine is the stated goal of Pope John Paul II’s visit in 1979. The pope travels to Knock as part of a state visit to Ireland, marking the centenary of the famous Knock apparitions. Horan works with Judy Coyne to organise the papal visit. He is responsible for the refurbishment of the church grounds, along with the construction of a huge church, with a capacity of 15,000. This newly constructed church is given the status of basilica by the pope. The day after the papal visit, Horan begins his campaign to build an international airport in Barnacuige, a small village near Charlestown, County Mayo.

Critics regard the idea of an airport on a “foggy, boggy site” in Mayo as unrealistic, but funding is approved by then Taoiseach Charles Haughey, who performs the official opening in May 1986, five years after work commenced. Although Horan had secured IR£10,000,000 in funding from Haughey, following the Fianna Fáil party’s defeat in the general election of 1982, his funding is cut, with the airport unfinished. He raises the IR£4,000,000 shortfall by holding a “Jumbo Draw.” This large lottery succeeds in raising the required revenue, but only after a painstaking tour of several countries, including Australia and the United States. This takes its toll on the ageing Horan and leads to his death shortly after the completion of the airport. The airport is originally known as Horan International Airport, but is now officially referred to as Ireland West Airport Knock.

Horan dies on August 1, 1986 while on a pilgrimage to Lourdes, just a few months after the official opening of the airport. His remains are flown into Knock, the first funeral to fly into the airport he had campaigned for. He is buried in the grounds of the Knock Basilica. His life and work are chronicled in a musical written by Terry Reilly and local broadcaster Tommy Marren, entitled A Wing and a Prayer. It premières in The Royal Theatre in Castlebar, County Mayo, on November 25, 2010.


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The First Non-Stop Transatlantic Flight

British aviators John Alcock and Arthur Brown take off from Newfoundland on June 14, 1919 on the first ever non-stop transatlantic flight. They fly a modified World War I Vickers Vimy bomber from St. John’s, Newfoundland, to Clifden, Connemara, County Galway. A small amount of mail is carried on the flight, also making it the first transatlantic airmail flight.

In April 1913 London‘s Daily Mail offers a prize of £10,000 to the aviator who first crosses the Atlantic Ocean in an airplane from any point in the United States, Canada or Newfoundland to any point in Great Britain or Ireland in 72 continuous hours. The competition is suspended with the outbreak of war in 1914 but reopens after Armistice is declared in 1918.

Several teams enter the competition and, when Alcock and Brown arrive in St. John’s, the Handley Page team are in the final stages of testing their aircraft for the flight, but their leader, Admiral Mark Kerr, is determined not to take off until the plane is in perfect condition. The Vickers team quickly assembles their plane and while the Handley Page team are conducting yet another test, the Vickers plane takes off from Lester’s Field.

It is not an easy flight. The overloaded aircraft has difficulty taking off the rough field and barely misses the tops of the trees. At 5:20 PM the wind-driven electrical generator fails, depriving them of radio contact, their intercom and heating. An exhaust pipe bursts shortly afterwards, causing a frightening noise which makes conversation impossible without the failed intercom.

Alcock and Brown also have to contend with thick fog, which prevents Brown from being able to navigate using his sextant. Alcock twice loses control of the aircraft in the fog and nearly crashes into the sea. He also has to deal with a broken trim control that makes the plane become very nose-heavy as fuel is consumed. Their electric heating suits fail, making them very cold in the open cockpit.

At 3:00 AM they fly into a large snowstorm. They are drenched by rain, their instruments ice up, and the plane is in danger of icing and becoming unflyable. The carburetors also ice up.

They make landfall in County Galway at 8:40 AM on June 15, 1919, not far from their intended landing place, after less than sixteen hours of flying time. The aircraft is damaged upon arrival because they land on what appears from the air to be a suitable green field, but which turns out to be Derrygilmlagh Bog, near Clifden. This causes the aircraft to nose-over, although neither of the airmen is hurt. Brown says that had the weather been favorable they could have pressed on to London. Their first interview is given to Tom ‘Cork’ Kenny of the Connacht Tribune.

Alcock and Brown are treated as heroes on the completion of their flight. The Secretary of State for Air, Winston Churchill, presents them with the Daily Mail prize. In addition to a share of the Daily Mail award, Alcock receives 2,000 guineas (£2,100) from the State Express Cigarette Company and £1,000 from Laurence R. Philipps for being the first Briton to fly the Atlantic Ocean. Both men are knighted a week later by King George V at Windsor Castle.

Alcock and Brown fly to Manchester on July 1919, where they are given a civic reception by the Lord Mayor of Manchester and Manchester City Council, and awards to mark their achievement.

(Pictured: Statue of Alcock and Brown formerly located at London Heathrow Airport. Relocated to Clifden, Connemara, County Galway, Ireland to celebrate centenary in 2019.)


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Crash of the “St. Kevin” in Wales

An Aer Lingus aeroplane, the St. Kevin, crashes into Moel Siabod, a 2,860-foot mountain in Wales, during a blinding rainstorm on January 10, 1952 and burns out with the loss of all twenty passengers and a crew of three. It is Aer Lingus’s first fatal crash in fifteen years of service. Tragically the only item to survive intact is a child’s doll, belonging to a four-year-old passenger.

The plane is flying en route from London Northolt to Dublin leaving at 5:25 PM and is due to land at Collinstown at 8:10 PM. The last message received is a report to the Nevin Radio Station, south of Anglesey, which says that the plane is flying normally. The plane is piloted by Captain J. R. Keohane, from Whitehall, Dublin, with W. A. Newman, from Dundrum, Dublin, as First Officer and Deirdre Sutton as air hostess.

The crash is believed to have occurred within the next half-hour during a gale. The first news of the disaster comes from two people who telephone Caernarvon police at 7:10 PM and report that they had heard the sound of an aircraft overhead, then the sound of a crash and saw a big glow in the sky near the mountains. Police and scores of Royal Air Force (RAF) men and soldiers are involved in the tortuous rescue mission in torrential rain.

When the first rescue party has struggled 1,000 feet up the steep slope of the mountain they find the smouldering debris embedded in the earth. Most of the passengers had been buried in the bog by the impact. By midnight about 100 helpers are directed to the desolate mountain top and they work by torch light to extricate the bodies from the wreckage and the bog.

The cause of the crash is never established, although it is believed that the atrocious weather conditions may have led to mechanical failure.

On a lonely hillside in Snowdonia, Wales, a simple stone commemorates the victims of Ireland’s first air disaster.

(From: “Night 23 killed on a Welsh hillside,” Independent.ie, January 8, 2012)


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RAF Chinook Helicopter Crash on Mull of Kintyre

1994-chinook-crash-memorialA Chinook helicopter of the Royal Air Force (RAF) crashes on the Mull of Kintyre, Scotland, in foggy conditions on June 2, 1994. The crash results in the deaths of all twenty-five passengers and four crew on board. Among the passengers are almost all the United Kingdom‘s senior Northern Ireland intelligence experts who are travelling from Belfast to a security conference in Inverness. The accident is the RAF’s worst peacetime disaster.

Earlier in the day, the helicopter and crew carry out a trooping flight, as it is considered to be unsafe for British troops to move around in certain parts of Northern Ireland using surface transport at the time due to the threat posed by Provisional Irish Republican Army attacks. This mission is safely accomplished and they return to Joint Helicopter Command Flying Station Aldergrove at 3:20 PM. The helicopter takes off for Inverness at 5:42 PM. Weather en route is forecast to be clear except in the Mull of Kintyre area. The crew makes contact with military air traffic control (ATC) in Scotland at 5:55 PM.

Around 6:00 PM, the helicopter flies into a hillside in dense fog. The pilots are Flight Lieutenants Jonathan Tapper, 28, and Richard Cook, 30, both United Kingdom Special Forces pilots. There are two other crew. The helicopter is carrying 25 British intelligence experts from MI5, the Royal Ulster Constabulary and the British Army, from RAF Aldergrove (outside Belfast, Northern Ireland) to attend a conference at Fort George, near Inverness, Scotland. At the time of the accident Air Chief Marshal Sir William Wratten calls it “the largest peacetime tragedy the RAF had suffered.”

In the immediate aftermath of the accident, one commentator states that the loss of so many top level Northern Ireland intelligence officers in one stroke is a huge blow to the John Major government, “temporarily confounding” its campaign against the IRA. That the crash kills so many British intelligence experts, without any witnesses in the foggy conditions, leads to considerable speculation and conspiracy theories being devised on the issue on the potential of a cover-up having been performed. Among these are accusations that wake turbulence from a top-secret hypersonic U.S. aircraft had been responsible for the crash, while another postulates that it is a deliberate assassination of the intelligence operatives on board in connection with the then on-going Northern Ireland peace process.

In 1995, an RAF board of inquiry rules that it is impossible to establish the exact cause of the accident. This ruling is subsequently overturned by two senior reviewing officers, who state the pilots were guilty of gross negligence for flying too fast and too low in thick fog. This finding proves to be controversial, especially in light of irregularities and technical issues surrounding the then-new Chinook HC.2 variant which were uncovered. A Parliamentary inquiry conducted in 2001 finds the previous verdict of gross negligence on the part of the crew to be “unjustified.” In 2011, an independent review of the crash clears the crew of negligence.

(Pictured: Memorial on Mull of Kintyre, Scotland to the crash victims of the 1994 RAF Chinook crash)


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Funeral of Coast Guard Captain Dara Fitzpatrick

dana-fitzpatrick-funeralOn Saturday, March 18, 2017, President Michael D. Higgins is among hundreds of mourners at St. Patrick’s Church in Glencullen for the funeral of Coast Guard Captain Dara Fitzpatrick, who died when her Sikorsky S-92 helicopter (call sign Rescue 116) crashed off the County Mayo coast on March 14.

The funeral cortege arrives at the church in Glencullen at 11:00 AM and is met by an honour guard from the Coast Guard and other rescue services. Captain Fitpatrick’s parents, four siblings, her young son Fionn, and other family members accompany the coffin into the church.

In addition to President Higgins, Taoiseach Enda Kenny and Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport Shane Ross are in attendance, as is Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin. Also present are members of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI), Civil Defence Ireland, mountain rescue and many other groups.

In his homily, Parish Priest Fr. Andrew O’Sullivan says St. Patrick’s church has seen many sad and tragic funerals but few as sad and sorrowful as this one. He pays tribute to the Fitzpatrick family and says they and the community have lost a loved and valued member. He adds that the congregations’ thoughts are with Captain Fitzpatrick’s three crew members who have yet to be found.

Fr. O’Sullivan says the family takes comfort from the fact that Dara had lived life to the fullest. Mourners hear that as well as being a loving mother, Dara was an avid traveller, cook and animal lover.

The funeral Mass is followed by cremation at Mount Jerome Crematorium.

Poor weather conditions off the west coast of Ireland hamper the search for the three missing crew members and the wreckage of the Coast Guard helicopter R116. On March 22, the wreckage of the main part of the helicopter is detected by underwater cameras about 60 metres off Blackrock Island. The body of co-pilot Captain Mark Duffy is found in the cockpit section of the wreckage. A helmet and lifejacket belonging to one of the two missing crewmen is discovered on a beach on the Mullet Peninsula on September 30, 2017.

(From: Captain Dara Fitzpatrick remembered during funeral service, RTÉ.ie, the website of Raidió Teilifís Éireann, Ireland’s National Public Service Broadcaster, March 18, 2017)


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Birth of Irish Billionaire Tony Ryan

tony-ryanThomas Anthony “Tony” Ryan, Irish billionaire, philanthropist and businessman, is born in Thurles, County Tipperary on February 2, 1936. He works for Aer Lingus, before going on to found their aircraft leasing arm, wet-leasing out their aircraft in the quieter winter months.

In 1975, with Aer Lingus and the Guinness Peat Group, Ryan founds Guinness Peat Aviation (later GPA Group), an aircraft leasing company, with a $50,000 investment. GPA grows to be the world’s biggest aircraft lessor, worth $4 billion at its peak. However its value dramatically collapses in 1992 after the cancellation of its planned IPO.

Ryan makes €55m from the sale of AerFi, the successor to GPA, in 2000. In 2001, he acquires Castleton Farm near Lexington, Kentucky from the Van Lennep Family Trust. He renames it Castleton Lyons and undertakes renovations to the property while returning to its original roots as a thoroughbred operation. He is a tax exile who lives in Monte Carlo, but also owns a stud farm near his home in Dolla, County Tipperary. He is the 7th wealthiest individual from Ireland in the Sunday Times Rich List 2007 with over €1.5bn(£1bn).

Ryan is best known in the public mind as the founder of the eponymous Ryanair with Christopher Ryan and Liam Lonergan. Ryanair is believed to be the main source of his wealth in later life. Ryanair is now one of the biggest airlines in Europe and is valued at over 15 billion Euros as of December 2019.

Ryan over the years helps nurture two successful business protégés, Denis O’Brien and Michael O’Leary, both of whom become billionaires.

Ryan holds honorary doctorates from several universities, including Trinity College, Dublin, the National University of Ireland, Galway and the University of Limerick.

Ryan is an active and innovative funder of university education in Ireland. He donates a marine science institute to NUI Galway in 1993 which is named the Martin Ryan Marine Science Institute in honour of his father. He shows interest in marine science and aquaculture development in the west of Ireland. He also funds The Ryan Academy for Entrepreneurship at the Citywest park, that is run by Dublin City University.

At the time of his death Ryan owns 16% of Tiger Airways, a discount carrier based in Singapore which is founded in December 2003.

Ryan dies on October 3, 2007 at Celbridge, County Kildare following an 18-month battle with pancreatic cancer. His eldest son, Cathal, dies just three months later, aged 48, after being diagnosed with cancer.


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Commuter Aircraft Overshoots Sligo Airport Runway

euroceltic-airlines-sligo-airportA Euroceltic Airways commuter aircraft with 40 passengers on board, including the Irish rock band Aslan, overshoots the runway at Sligo Airport on November 2, 2002 and ends up with its nose in the sea.

Nobody is injured in the incident, which happens as the aircraft attempts to land during heavy rain. A member of the rock band Aslan, who are among the passengers on the Euroceltic Airways flight from Dublin, describes it as a “very, very frightening experience.”

Although the Fokker 27 Friendship aircraft also faces high winds as it makes the landing, the major problem seems to be due to the amount of rainwater on the runway, which is located on a coastal spit at Strandhill. According to a Euroceltic spokesman, “The pilot touched down and hit the brakes, but it aquaplaned, basically, and kept going.”

The plane crosses a short, rocky beach at the end of the runway, bursting three of its tires, before coming to a stop with its nose in the sea. The 36 passengers and four crew are safely evacuated and the plane is removed after crash inspectors examine the scene. An inquiry by the Department of Transport takes place.

Euroceltic, a Luton-based airline owned by a group from Waterford, began operating the Dublin-Sligo and Dublin-Donegal routes in the summer of 2002. The two Fokker 27 planes in use are scheduled for replacement by Fokker 50s, bought from Aer Lingus, in the weeks following the accident. However, according to the spokesman, the age of the planes, built in 1984, is not a factor in the incident. He says the pilot and co-pilot on the Sligo flight are both “very experienced.”

Aslan goes ahead with their concert in Sligo the following Saturday night despite the shock. Guitarist Billy McGuinness describes his fear as he watched the plane’s tires burst, “When I saw the sea, I thought, ‘Oh my God, we’re in trouble here’.” Band members had earlier joked about the tradition of rock groups being involved in air crashes, he added.

Euroceltic flight schedules return to normal on November 4. At the time of the accident, the company also flies from Waterford to Luton and Liverpool.

(From: “Investigation under way after plane skids off Sligo runway” by Frank McNally, The Irish Times, November 4, 2002)