A businessman whose helicopter collided with a pole as it landed at an unauthorised site near Dublin airport failed to report the accident to the authorities, an official investigation has found.
An anonymous caller to the air accident investigation unit of the Department of Transport alerted officials to the incident, which took place on January 11th.
The helicopter's tail rotor struck an unlit car park light pole as the pilot carried out a night landing at Omega House, an office building on the Old Airport Road at Collinstown Cross.
Substantial damage was done to the aircraft but the pilot, who leased a business unit at Omega House, was not injured. An investigation into the incident was carried out by the investigation unit, which published its report yesterday.
It found the pilot, who is not named and who was returning to Dublin on a flight from Britain, broke off his approach to an airport runway and landed instead on a lawn west of Omega House.
As it was setting to the ground, it struck a 4-ft car park pole, destroying it and seriously damaging the aircraft's tail. There was no evidence the black pole had a bulb, while bulbs were also missing from other lamps in the car park, investigators found.
The report said Omega House was not an Irish Aviation Authority-designated heliport for night operations.
