Two men died when their light aircraft crashed into Blackstairs mountain after entering an area of low visibility, an Air Accident Investigation Unit report has found.
Paul Smith (57) and Bryan Keane (69) departed Athboy airfield, Co Meath, at 10am on May 24th, 2015. The two, who were also travelling with their two pet dogs, were en route to an airfield near Taghmon, Co Wexford, to attend a “breakfast fly-in” event.
The men, who are not named in the report, as well as their two dogs were fatally injured about half an hour later when the Cessna T182T failed to clear high terrain on the Co Carlow mountain.
The accident report said local weather conditions near Blackstairs mountain meant that flight in visual meteorological conditions was not possible, and the aircraft may have entered cloud as it approached rising terrain at the mountain.
Although the report noted that the pilot, Smith, held a rating on his licence to navigate using the plane’s instruments (as opposed to visual navigation) it went on to say that he may not have appreciated the extent and elevation of the southern ridge of the mountain and crashed at 2,150ft.
Postmortem reports prepared for the Co Carlow coroner said the pilot “had evidence of severe heart disease with myocardial fibrosis and thrombosis occluding a stent...The deceased may have had a cardiac event which impaired his ability to fly the plane.”
Cardiac symptoms
The investigation unit sought independent expert opinion from a UK-based forensic pathologist, who said: “It is certainly possible that an individual experiencing cardiac symptoms may have been sufficiently impaired to have had a detrimental effect on control inputs and other physical tasks normally required in order to fly the aircraft.”
However, the expert added that it was not possible to tell with certainty whether the cardiac event happened prior to the crash.
A supplementary report from the pathologist who carried out the postmortem, dated July 14th, 2016, also said conclusive evidence does not exist that “a coronary artery thrombus caused symptoms leading to a crash”.
The Air Accident Investigation Unit report found it was not possible to conclude with certainty from the postmortem findings that an acute cardiac event was a factor in the crash.
Flying training
Smith began his flying training in 1987, and had logged 2,217 hours flying time by October 11th, 2014, the date of the last entry in his personal logbook. The book indicated he flew on average 80 hours a week in recent years.
He was experienced in general aviation operations, having owned and operated a variety of light aircraft.
He regularly made cross-water trips to the UK, and between July 11th and 15th, 2009, completed a trip to the United States to deliver his Cessna 206 following its sale and to collect the Cessna 182 following its purchase.
At the time of the crash he held an EU flight crew licence, a private pilot licence and a class two medical certificate.
The passenger, Keane, was also a qualified pilot with about 208 hours of flight time recorded in his logbook, along with a valid medical certificate.
The aircraft in which the two were flying was an all-metal, four-seat, light cabin monoplane with a strut-braced high wing and fixed tricycle landing gear.
Since 1968 there have been 12 fatal general-aviation/military accidents in Ireland involving impact with elevated terrain. These incidents resulted in 35 fatalities.
