AVIATION REGULATORS have raised serious safety concerns about the Spanish air carrier whose small passenger aircraft crashed at Cork airport in February with the loss of six lives.
The authorities in Spain took steps last month to suspend the air operator certificate of Barcelona-based Flightline, but it continues to fly pending the evaluation of a corrective plan to improve safety procedures on its flights.
Flightline, a small company, was operator of the flight from Belfast which crashed while trying to land in heavy fog on February 10th. Flightline carried out the flight for Isle of Man-based Manx2.com by arrangement with another company, Air Lada, which is not a certified air carrier, using pilots provided by Air Lada.
Four passengers and two crew were killed in the crash, and the other six passengers were injured.
The crashed aircraft was one of two Fairchild Metro III operated by Flightline which were previously flown within the air operator certificate of a Spanish carrier called Eurocontinental.
In a regular aviation report from the European Commission, it emerged yesterday that the Spanish authorities had suspended Eurocontinental’s certificate as a result of ramp inspections and “significant safety incidents” in the operation of both aircraft.
If the authorities bring the suspension of the Flightline’s certificate to its conclusion that would prevent the operation of the other Metro III aircraft.
Although safety issues were identified in another five small Spanish carriers, Flightline was the prime source of concern over a rise in “early warnings” about aviation safety in the country.
The warnings about Flightline centred on “minor” and “significant” deficiencies and on “major findings” of safety concern, the official said.
The concerns about Flightline were disclosed in an update of the list of air carriers banned from Europe’s skies. Although none of the Spanish carriers were added to the banned list, the commission said “action would be necessary” to ensure identified risks were controlled if corrective measures prove ineffective.
The ramp inspections by the Spanish safety authority AESA dealt with Flightline’s operations. They did not assess the airworthiness of its aircraft and they did not constitute an investigation into the Cork crash.
In a preliminary report last month, Irish investigators found there were no mechanical problems with the aircraft prior to the crash. The investigators are now examining the experience of the flight crew and any other factors.
The commission said the “particular situation” of Flightline was discussed at a meeting with AESA in mid-March. At this meeting the carrier set out actions it had taken to address the deficiencies cited in ramp inspections. It also set out the actions taken since the crash.
“Flightline stated they had conducted all the required conversion training of the pilots and had carried out quality checks of the operation of the aircraft in the Isle of Man,” the commission said.
“Spain informed the air safety committee that following discrepancies found during inspections of Flightline, AESA had initiated on 14th March 2011 a procedure to suspend the air operator certificate of Flightline and had introduced precautionary measures to address the immediate safety concern. AESA confirmed that Flightline had subsequently taken action to address the immediate safety concern and also provided a corrective action plan which was being evaluated by AESA.
“In light of the actions undertaken by the competent authorities of Spain in resolving the identified safety deficiencies of Flightline and other Spanish air carriers it is assessed that at this time no further action is necessary.”
Phone calls and an e-mail to Flightline were not answered.
