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The view from The Slieve Mish Moutains
A PRIVATE jet that took off from Farranfore last year was just a minute away from crashing into the Slieve Mish Mountains after a misunderstanding over flight instructions.
The Florida registered jet was carrying five people on board – three passengers and two crew – and left from Kerry Airport on June 16, 2015 destined for Gander in Newfoundland, Canada.
It is reported in The Irish Times that a traffic controller in Shannon noticed that the jet was flying too low as it made its way past Castlemaine and towards the Slieve Mish Mountains.
While flying into clouds after take off, the aircraft was flying around 800 feet below the highest peak. The incident has been reviewed by the Air Accident Investigation Unit (AAIU) who have classed it as ‘serious’.
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The AAIU said the two pilots misunderstood instructions they were given and did not seek to clarify them with air traffic controllers.
Speaking to the AAIU the 32-year-old pilot of the jet who has 4,000 hours flying experience said they were unsure of what altitude they should be flying.
“As we began to climb we had some confusion as to what the altitude clearance limit was as we were unsure what ‘level 200’ meant. We levelled at 2,000 feet to ensure we didn’t exceed any altitude limits.”
As the jet flew over Castlemaine the pilots were forced to contact air traffic control in Shannon to clarify their coordinates. They were ordered to climb to 4,000 feet immediately as they were headed straight for the mountains which were just a minute away. The pilot did so and disaster was avoided.
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