UP TO 100 helicopter and light plane owners are under scrutiny from the Irish Aviation Authority (IAA) after an increase in the number of accidents and “near-miss incidents” involving American aircraft operating in Ireland.

IAA, the aviation safety regulator, has asked Revenue and the Department of Justice to examine the legality of using American-registered aircraft for commercial gain in Ireland.

It is attempting to clamp down on the “dangerous” practice of American or N-registered aircraft being based permanently in Ireland and flown by American-trained pilots to avoid oversight from the IAA.

A helicopter that crashed in Bettystown two weeks ago was flown by a pilot with a private US licence. He was employed by Barrack Homes, a construction company.

Kevin Humphreys, the IAA’s director of safety regulation, said there had been an increase in accidents and incidents involving N-reg aircraft piloted by people on American licences.

“Our remit is safety and the use of these aircraft poses a threat to passengers and innocent bystanders,” Humphreys said.

“People are going over to Florida to get a pilot’s licence after 40 hours’ flight time. We believe it’s more difficult here because it takes 45 hours and we have four written exams as opposed to one in America. It’s also less demanding for a pilot to fly in the clear skies of Florida than the windy and rainy weather conditions we get in Ireland.”

The IAA has begun a regulatory investigation into the pilot and owner of the Sikorsky S76 helicopter that crashed in Bettystown. The pilot who crashed the helicopter in the grounds of a hotel being used as a school had neither a commercial Irish pilot’s licence nor permission to land earlier on a public beach.

Commercial helicopter operators say businesses that use N-reg aircraft can avoid regular maintenance checks by the IAA. This allows them to operate with lower costs.

“There are significant costs to comply with the regular safety audits in Ireland,” said one operator of Irish-registered helicopters. “With the FAA and N-reg aircraft in Ireland, it’s a case of out of sight and out of mind.”

The IAA estimates that there are between 70 and 100 N-Reg aircraft in Ireland, while another 160 are on the Irish register. Under an agreement with the FAA this summer, all N-reg aircraft in Ireland can be inspected by the IAA.

Revenue and the IAA inspected N-reg aircraft on the day of Munster’s European Cup triumph in Cardiff in May. Revenue has examined whether owners of N-Reg aircraft are tax compliant.

The problem of monitoring US-registered aircraft has also arisen in Britain and France. Humphreys said the European Union is studying it.

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