'Txts' Save Irish Flight

It was back to basics recently when an Irish light aircraft was forced to do a Biggles' style fly-past for air traffic control staff to check if the wheels were down prior to landing - and to fall-back on mobile phone text messages when normal 'comms' failed.

Text messages saved the aeroplane, which lost electrical power and communication abilities last November, a report has revealed.

Problems emerged soon after the light aircraft left Kerry Airport en route to Jersey with five people on board.

The pilot rang Cork Airport and was told he could land and the air traffic controller 'texted' instructions on manually lowering the undercarriage.

The problems emerged after the plane was above the clouds, and the pilot decided to continue flying south to find clearer weather conditions where the ground could be seen.

After a number of failed attempts to ring Kerry and Cork Airports on his mobile, he briefly managed to talk to staff in Cork who told him the plane was still on radar and they could land there.

The Air Accident Investigation Unit praised the controller for his actions when audio communications were lost again, but text messages from control guided the pilot in safely.

Then, just before landing, the plane flew past the control tower to confirm the wheels had been lowered.

"In this incident the positive and proactive initiative of the ATC controller, who, on realising that mobile audio communication from the pilot was intermittent, quickly switched to texting his instructions instead," the report found.

"This contributed to the safe resolution of the incident and, for such, the controller should be commended for his actions."

(BMcC)