ESB bill pilot for damage to power lines

The ESB has invoiced an airline pilot for damage caused to electrical equipment in Co Donegal during a near-fatal air accident earlier this year.

The pilot was told to pay up to €3,000 after he crashed through a network of 10,000-volt electricity wires, leading to power cuts in 900 homes near Drung in east Donegal.

A report into the accident said "a significant causal factor" was poor judgment on the part of the pilot, who was trying to perform aerobatic stunts.

Investigators found the 63-year-old man, who had taken off from Eglinton Airport, Derry, with one passenger on board, had been in breach of his UK private pilot's licence by failing to have valid medical record certification.

The Irish Aviation Authority had no record of a request being made by the pilot to cross the Border - as required by his permit to fly the Stolp Starduster.

In a report published yesterday, the Department of Transport's Air Accident Investigation Unit said it was "purely fortuitous that there were no fatalities" arising from the incident, which occurred last April near Quigley's Point.

In an interview with the investigators, the pilot, who claimed to have trained under a UK-based aerobatics champion, said he wanted to "sort out his rolls" on the flight. The ESB was unable to say yesterday whether the bill for the damage had been paid.

"The pilot admitted that he was quite shaken by the event on his return to Eglinton, and for some time afterwards. It is not known how the passenger felt," the report added.