An investigation into the fatal crash of a glider aircraft in Kilkenny last summer has found that the 78-year-old's pilot licence had expired four years earlier when he was deemed medically unfit to fly.
Martin Mulhall, one of the best-known figures in Irish aviation circles, died when his Pilatus B4 Glider crash-landed near Kilkenny airport on August 7th, 2006.
The report by the Air Accident Investigation Unit of the Department of Transport has revealed that following a medical in April 2002, the aeronautical medical examiner (AME) "did not deem the pilot fit to fly" and referred him to the Air Medical Clinic in the Mater private hospital in Dublin for cardiological evaluation.
There he was advised "to consider the cardiological evaluation required for him to be certified fit" but the report states that Mr Mulhall "decided that he would think about this advice but he never subsequently reverted to the AME".
The report by Frank Russell, the official investigator, also found that Mr Mulhall suffered "an episode of atrial fibrillation in May 2002" and in addition to heart problems was taking prescribed medication for high blood pressure and a kidney condition.
Despite this, the then 74-year-old "continued to fly powered aircraft".
The investigation concluded that the probable cause of the accident was the "pilot's loss of control during flight as a result of a serious incapacitation of a medical nature - possibly a recurrence of an episode of atrial fibrillation - that caused [ him] to lose control of his glider" and crash.