{"id":102190,"date":"2025-10-04T03:47:09","date_gmt":"2025-10-04T03:47:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/102190\/"},"modified":"2025-10-04T03:47:09","modified_gmt":"2025-10-04T03:47:09","slug":"jet-repair-report-posted-online-not-intended-for-public-says-aer-lingus-safety-chief-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/102190\/","title":{"rendered":"Jet repair report posted online \u2018not intended for public\u2019, says Aer Lingus safety chief \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

The head of safety at Aer Lingus<\/a> has told a tribunal an engine repair report posted online by a whistleblower pilot in the wake of an alleged toxic fume leak on a jet was \u201cnot intended for public consumption\u201d. <\/p>\n

Conor Nolan, director of safety and security at the airline was under cross-examination for a second day on Friday at the Workplace Relations Commission<\/a> (WRC). <\/p>\n

The airline is defending statutory complaints alleging penalisation under the Protected Disclosures Act 2014, the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act 2005 and the Unfair Dismissals Act by pilot, Tom O\u2019Riordan. <\/p>\n

The airline contends Mr O\u2019Riordan, who had 13,000 hours\u2019 command experience on heavy jets when he was dismissed in September 2024, \u201cdefamed\u201d the airline on social media while off work sick in the wake of an incident on board an empty passenger jet the summer before. <\/p>\n

Mr O\u2019Riordan\u2019s lawyer says the pilot believed safety issues were being \u201cwhitewashed\u201d and \u201ccovered over\u201d by Aer Lingus and that he was entitled to take to social media out of concern for public safety. <\/p>\n

Mr Nolan said the number one engine on an Airbus A320 jet, EI-DEN \u2013 referred to in the proceedings as \u201cDelta Echo November\u201d \u2013 was removed and sent to a Madrid workshop following a reported fume leak on June 5th, 2023, during an empty repositioning flight into Dublin Airport, with Mr O\u2019Riordan in command. <\/p>\n

Mr O\u2019Riordan\u2019s position is that he was poisoned by toxic fumes during the incident.<\/p>\n

A report on the repairs to the engine dated October 24th, 2023 \u2013 referred to as the \u201cIberia report\u201d \u2013 was opened to the hearing on Friday. <\/p>\n

David Byrnes BL, for the complaiant the report noted \u201ctraces of oil \u2026 around the rear area of the fan frame\u201d of a compressor and put it to Mr Nolan that it was \u201cthe same compressor that\u2019s used to pressurise the cabin\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn a very general sense. No one\u2019s disputing there was a leak of oil and it created a smell,\u201d Mr Nolan said. <\/p>\n

Mr Byrnes asked Mr Nolan whether he had complained to the company that his personal reputation was damaged by Mr O\u2019Riordan\u2019s social media posts. <\/p>\n

\u201cNo,\u201d the witness said. <\/p>\n

\u201cAnd why not?\u201d counsel asked. <\/p>\n

\u201cThis matter has taken up so much of my time that would be better devoted to other management duties in my portfolio. I was aware the posting of internal material was being addressed through the appropriate channels,\u201d Mr Nolan said. <\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s no evidence of any damage to your reputation, is there?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNo,\u201d Mr Nolan said. <\/p>\n

Asked what damage Mr O\u2019Riordan had done to Aer Lingus\u2019s reputation, Mr Nolan said: \u201cThe publication of confidential internal safety engineering and operational data, viewed out of context by unqualified members of the public, certainly has the potential to damage the reputation of the organisation and trust in our brand.<\/p>\n

He said he was referring to the report on the repairs to the engine removed from the jet Mr O\u2019Riordan had been flying. <\/p>\n

\u201cIn the wrong hands, it could be misconstrued as presenting some sort of safety risk,\u201d the witness said. \u201cThis is a highly technical document that\u2019s not intended for public consumption … there\u2019s potential it could be misconstrued by members of the public, and specifically the concern I would have would be that customers might see this,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

\u201cIsn\u2019t the customer entitled to know whether there\u2019s a seal in a compressor that\u2019s defective and that they\u2019re putting themselves at risk of exposure to fumes in the cabin?\u201d counsel asked. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe customer is clearly entitled to expect the aircraft is airworthy,\u201d Mr Nolan said. <\/p>\n

\u201cAre they entitled to know what risk there is of exposure to fumes coming into the plane from defective seals, worn seals with oil leaks \u2013 isn\u2019t a customer entitled to know that, so they can decide themselves?\u201d Mr Byrnes continued. <\/p>\n

\u201cNo,\u201d Mr Nolan said. <\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re not?\u201d counsel said. <\/p>\n

\u201cNo,\u201d the witness said. <\/p>\n

Adjudication officer Aideen Collard has adjourned the case to January 2026.<\/p>\n

Mr Byrnes is instructed by solicitor Setanta Landers in the case. Tom Mallon BL is for the airline, instructed by Katie Rooney of Arthur Cox. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The head of safety at Aer Lingus has told a tribunal an engine repair report posted online by…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":102191,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[73],"tags":[2442,79,18,19,17,81],"class_list":{"0":"post-102190","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-aer-lingus","9":"tag-business","10":"tag-eire","11":"tag-ie","12":"tag-ireland","13":"tag-workplace-relations-commission"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102190","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=102190"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102190\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/102191"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=102190"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=102190"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=102190"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}