For endangering the public

Hail flight: Public prosecutor now investigating AUA

Following the horror flight through a hailstorm on June 9, 2024, the Korneuburg public prosecutor's office is now investigating AUA for negligent endangerment of the public.(Bild: zVg)

In the case of the nightmare flight of an AUA aircraft through a hailstorm in June, the Korneuburg public prosecutor's office has launched an investigation against the airline. There is a suspicion of negligent endangerment of the public, but AUA rejects the accusations.

It is now being investigated whether the airline failed to provide its pilots with the relevant training on how the weather radar works, confirmed authority spokesman Josef Mechtler on Monday.

The suspicion was based on information that an expert had received from a pilot, Mechtler confirmed. The public prosecutor's office had ordered the relevant training documents to be seized and AUA had already forwarded them. The documents are now being examined by the public prosecutor's office and the expert for aviation and accident analysis.

AUA is said to have "manipulated the company's internal documentation system for training courses so that training courses that were not actually carried out appear as completed in the personnel file", according to the judicial file reported by the "Kurier".

AUA rejects accusations "in the strongest terms"
Last Friday, AUA "made a statement to the public prosecutor's office", the company announced: "We reject in the strongest possible terms the allegations made by an anonymous person on these issues." According to the statement, legal action is being prepared against this person or against an unknown person. It was also stated that AUA carries out "significantly more training than required by law" in the education and training of its pilots.

Austro Control will "follow up on the information" as part of its supervision of airlines with regard to compliance with the regulations, explained spokesman Markus Pohanka, according to which the flight captains are not said to have reported themselves.

The two pilots are also being investigated for negligent endangerment of the public. The public prosecutor's office does not yet have the data from the evaluation of the flight data recorder and the cockpit voice recorder, Mechtler stated. The authorities had ordered the seizure, but appeals have been lodged in this regard.

Severe damage after flight through thunderstorm cell
In June, the Airbus A320 was on its way from Palma de Mallorca to Vienna in Styria when it hit a thunderstorm cell and thus encountered severe turbulence. The aircraft nevertheless landed safely at Schwechat Airport, but was damaged and was only able to resume scheduled flight operations after repairs.