Ballycumber pilot who 'endangered whole opulation of Athlone' convicted of 10 offences

A pilot from Ballycumber who a district court judge said had 'endangered the whole population of Athlone' was this week convicted of ten offences contrary to air regulations in relation to an incident when he landed on the roof of the Parkrite carpark adjacent to the Texas Shopping Centre in July of last year. Seán O"Brien of The Island, Ballycumber, Co Offaly, pleaded not guilty to operating an aircraft in a negligent and/or reckless manner so as to endanger life or property in a manner that was hazardous to persons or property at the Parkrite carpark on July 7 last year and nine other offences relating to flying below height restrictions, flying in a congested area, landing and take-off from the carpark without the consent of the owner, landing on an elevated landing area that was not certified or licenced by the Irish Aviation Authority and flying below such a height that would not allow him to make a forced landing if a power unit failed. After extensive legal argument from defence solicitor Tom Madden, Judge David Anderson decided that the case should proceed at Athlone District Court on Monday afternoon. The car-parking attendant who had been working on the day, Arkadiusz Cyganek, told the court he had been checking the carpark on the day in question, a Saturday, at about 1pm when he saw the helicopter coming in to land and he tried to wave it away as he had been told by his manager that helicopters were not allowed to land on the roof. He said he had to move away when sand blew in his face and he went in the doors and hid beside the staircase. Mr Cyganek said the wind was so powerful that the doors opened and hit his left hand. He said when Mr O"Brien stopped his engine he went out to see if he had permission and he became abusive towards him and told him it was none of his business. He explained that there were ten floors in the carpark and there were cars parked as far as level seven. On cross examination Mr Cyganek said the top floor of the carpark was open to the public but nobody had been parked there. Captain John Steel of the Irish Aviation Authority (IAA) told the court he investigated the incident after a complaint had been made by the IAA on July 8 of last year. It took some time to ascertain who owned the helicopter and who had been piloting it and once that was established Capt Steel carried out an inspection of the site on October 22 and November 20 last year. He found that O"Brien had operated the helicopter in a negligent and reckless manner because Mr Cyganek had to take shelter and was injured and also found that he was in breach of a number of other guidelines. Capt Steel said Mr Cyganek was very lucky to hold the door closed in the downwash of the helicopter and said in his expert opinion the downwash would have been significant enough to lift a person up and over the 5ft railing at the side of the carpark. Capt Paul Gingell of the IAA said he had interviewed O"Brien under caution about the incident and O"Brien said he had landed on the carpark roof as he had needed to have keys cut. Capt Gingell said he had submitted a report to the Assistant Director of Safety Regulation and IAA then decided to prosecute. O"Brien told the court he had qualified as a pilot in Florida and his licence allowed him to fly commercial helicopters anywhere in the world. He said he had landed on the rooftop previously with Tom McNamara, who owned the Texas Shopping Centre but not the carpark, onboard and his understanding was that Mr McNamara owned the carpark. O"Brien said Mr Cyganek had lied to the court and had not been on the roof. 'If he was on the roof when I landed the downdraught would have pushed him over the railing and he"d be dead. He"s lying, he wasn"t on the roof. I wouldn"t have landed if he was on roof. He only came out when I was shutting down,' he said. He admitted on cross examination by State Solicitor Peter Jones that he did not like the IAA and was not answerable to the Authority. He told the court he wanted to learn how to fly fixed aircraft and was training to be an instructor. Judge David Anderson convicted O"Brien on all charges and said: 'I am satisfied that he manoeuvred it with a blatant disregard, either through ignorance or a lack of comprehension which I find strange in a pilot, of the fundamental rules of the game.' On hearing that he couldn"t take away his licence, Judge Anderson said: 'If you"re found driving using a mobile phone I can take your licence, but this man endangered the whole population of Athlone and I can"t.' In a bid to ensure O"Brien familiarises himself with Irish guidelines, Judge Anderson adjourned the case for penalties until November 25 next year and remanded him on bail on the condition that he not operate any machine capable of flight anywhere in the world and gave liberty to the State to re-enter the case if O"Brien breaches the bail condition.