An Aer Lingus pilot, who didn’t report a failure to link up with a navigation beacon on approach to Dublin Airport, has said his co-pilot’s repeated use of the word “apologies” to air traffic control was just his “manners” as a “well-educated, posh Belvedere boy”.

Aer Lingus denies statutory complaints brought by the pilot, 53-year-old Declan McCabe, under the Protected Disclosures Act 2014, the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act 2005, and the Payment of Wages Act 1997 at the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC).

Shortly before 1pm on June 8th, 2023, Capt McCabe was in flying in command of an Airbus A321neo passenger jet, call sign Shamrock Three Victor Charlie, which failed to acquire the radio beacon for the instrument landing system (ILS) for Dublin Airport’s north runway on its approach.

Mr McCabe was demoted from captain to first officer after airline management concluded that he had failed to submit a timely air safety report and gave “inaccurate information” to the national air traffic control authority. Mr McCabe denies these findings and says these were the result of a “predetermined” process aiming to penalise him.

Mr McCabe’s position is that the question of whether or not to file a safety report on the issue was a judgment call for him as the commander of the aircraft.

Counsel for the complainant David Byrnes BL, instructed by Setanta Solicitors in the matter, said in a legal submission that the June 8th, 2023, incident was “a non-event” to the extent that the final transmission from Air Traffic Control to the jet was “no worries”.

Aer Lingus’s barrister, Tom Mallon BL, appearing instructed by Arthur Cox, quoted an agreed transcript to Mr McCabe in his cross-examination today and asked why the first officer had used the word “re-establish”.

“You’d have to ask the first officer,” Mr McCabe said.

When the controller asked for confirmation the crew were headed for the north runway, the first officer replied: “Affirm 10-L, stand by,” Mr Mallon quoted.

“Why would he use the phrase ‘stand by’?” counsel asked. Mr McCabe again said it was a question for the first officer.

The controller’s next words were “Turn left 070 to lock on if you continue that track,” Mr Mallon said.

“He obviously can see we’re in a turn at that stage. He’s confirming the heading … but we’re already on that heading,” Mr McCabe said.

The first officer said next “apologies, correcting track now, 070”, Mr Mallon said. “Any comment?”

Mr McCabe said the language used over the radio could be “informal”. “We say ‘thank you’, ‘apologies’, ‘good day’, ‘good night’,” he said.

Mr Mallon suggested the first officer was “apologising in some fashion to air traffic control” and that “correcting track” might “imply it was not correct”. Mr McCabe said he couldn’t speak for the other pilot, but that the aircraft was “on a new track”.

A later transmission replying to the controller was: “Affirm, happy to continue descent to 2,000 feet, apologies”. Mr Mallon again asked about the word “apologies”.

“I hope you get to meet [the first officer]. He’s a well-educated, posh, Belvedere boy. He has a lot of manners. When you get to meet him, you will see that,” Mr McCabe said.

“Unfortunately, I was educated in another northside school that was not Belvedere,” Mr Mallon said.

The case has been adjourned by adjudicator John Harraghy to the new year.

Mr Byrnes said at the end of Friday’s hearing there seemed to be “no indication” that Captain Wynne was “coming to join this party”.

Mr Mallon said: “He won’t be. My case is he has nothing to do with this.”