Parachute club chief wins challenge to suspension

The chief instructor with the Irish Parachute Club, Paul McMahon, has won his High Court challenge against the Irish Aviation Authority's decision to suspend him following an accident two years ago.

Mr Justice Gerard Hogan told Mr McMahon, who handled his own judicial review of the Authority's decision, that the suspension had become invalid and was no longer operative.

“The Authority is entitled to act in a summary fashion in order to protect public safety as happened in this case,” the judge said. “But if it so acts then it is obliged to ensure there was a fuller hearing which complied with the requirements of fair procedures within a short space of time.”

Judge Hogan said the proper protection of the constitutional right to a good name would generally demand no less and this had not happened in Mr McMahon’s case.

He said Mr McMahon was Club Chief Instructor with the Irish Parachute Club at Clonbullogue Airfield, Co Offaly, prior to his suspension from the post by the Authority in February 2013.

Parachuting had been a life’s passion for Mr McMahon and as chief instructor he was responsible for ensuring the general safety of both parachutists and the general public. His suspension had dashed a lifetime’s ambition.

Judge Hogan said that on July 15th, 2012 an experienced wing-suited free-fall parachutist had pulled ligaments and broke his left ankle in a hard fall. He had jumped into ice clouds that tore at his face and blanked his instruments. The injured parachutist had lodged a complaint regarding an alleged lack of a worsening weather warnings and having been left injured on a bog for almost an hour.

The judge said Mr McMahon had conveyed a worsening forecast for the afternoon to the wing suiters who had decided to proceed and consciously chose to exit the aircraft contrary to a rule prohibiting jumping out over cloud. The instructor claimed the injured parachutist had ignored safety procedures.

Judge Hogan said parachuting was a hazardous sport where there could be little room for error and operations manuals warned of the risk of injury or death each time one made a parachute jump.

He said that if the suspension had lasted days or weeks then no objection could have been taken as to how fair procedures had been followed. This suspension had lasted for well over a year.

“The delay has been considerable, stretching well beyond any period necessary to get to the bottom of the basic facts of the matter so as to allay any possible safety concerns,” Judge Hogan said.

He said the long suspension had the effect of seriously affecting Mr McMahon’s constitutional right to a good name.

Judge Hogan said the injured parachutist had taken a decision to jump from the aircraft in weather conditions that were far from ideal and which had contributed to his accident.

The court listed for September 24th an application by Mr McMahon for an injunction restraining publication of a report by the Authority containing allegedly damaging material to Mr McMahon.