The Virgin Express airline breached Portuguese aviation authority rules by allowing an aircraft to fly to a Madeira airport with insufficiently trained pilots, a former employee claimed at an Employment Appeals tribunal.
On the first day of a two-day hearing in Limerick yesterday. Capt Nicholas McHugh, from Terenure, Dublin, who is claiming constructive dismissal from the company, said more than 70 per cent of pilots had operated without being trained in safety and emergency procedures.
Despite being on board a flight to Madeira last June for observation training, his name was given to the Portuguese authorities as the certified instructor captain assisting the pilots, Capt Pearse McCrann and First Officer Niall Hogan.
Capt McHugh said the Brussels and Shannon-based airline also breached regulations by rostering newly qualified pilots together. They had flown to "category C" airports, which were the most difficult landing spots for which qualified crews needed special training.
He said Funchal, built on the side of a hill, was such a tricky airport that a high level of skill and compliance was needed to fly into it. Only captains who had flown the route within the previous six months were allowed to land there. On their first run, they had to be assisted by a certified instructor captain who had experience of the airport.
Capt McCrann, a senior captain with Virgin Express and a former officer commanding with the Air Corps Transport and Training Squadron, said he had checked with the company on the regulation and was satisfied with the response.
Capt McHugh had been present in a monitoring and advisory function. He was satisfied Capt McHugh could carry out that function from his observation position on the "jump seat".
Capt McHugh resigned from Virgin Express last August after two years. He had been a pilot for 26 years and was on a salary of £103,965, including benefits. He formerly worked with Ryan air and Aer Lingus and now works for the British low-cost carrier, Go.
He resigned from Virgin because his position had become untenable.
He declined to attend a meeting with management on August 4th when he would have been required to explain his absence from work from June 25th to 28th before he took leave of absence in July.
Before taking leave he had telephoned his employer to say he was unable to work as a result of a bout of diarrhoea. During those three days he had attended simulation training with Go and worked for that company while on leave of absence in the following weeks.
The letter summoning him to the meeting with management had stated that failure to attend would result in the termination of his employment. Capt McHugh said he had to resign to protect his integrity. "In the industry your reputation is everything," he said.