Louth man takes civil case against helicopter flying school owner

A man who claimed that a verbal agreement between himself and the owner/instructor of a helicopter training school for assessment and training in furtherance of a flying licence was broken took a civil case to court claiming damages.

Donal Marron, Carlingford Heights, Carlingford, Co Louth claimed €2,520 against the flying school owner Aidan Garvey, Teltown, Donaghpatrick, Navan. The claim was denied by Mr Garvey.

Mr Marron said he had placed his aircraft with the training school early last year.

He told the civil case in Navan that Mr Garvey’s “type rating on the helicopter in question was out” so he (Mr Marron) provided his own helicopter for Mr Garvey to do a flight test. Mr Garvey had to renew an expired rating in the turbine helicopter and “I provided my helicopter for that purpose”, he said.

READ NEXT: Louth man (30) jailed for possession of a Stanley blade at a garda station

Subsequent to that Mr Garvey changed his mind and decided he would not honour the commitment to do the flight test and commitment, he claimed. “That’s where we are, I’m at a loss”.

The training agreement was verbal but Mr Marron said he signed documents to officially place his aircraft at Mr Garvey’s school.

The training would have involved payment of an hourly rate. He added that he placed his helicopter at Mr Garvey’s disposal in order to renew his rating.

He told Judge Eirinn McKiernan that his loss was an hour repositioning his helicopter to Mr Garvey’s premises (at a cost of €1,200) and an hour and a quarter that Mr Garvey flew with another examiner to renew his rating.

He said he thought that Mr Garvey would reconsider the situation at the court and come to some arrangement with him but that had not happened.

Mr Garvey told the court there was no contract between them. He said the verbal agreement was to bring the aircraft down and I was to get my rating on it.

“It was purely to his benefit so I could teach him on his aircraft”, he said.

“Then subsequently when I talked to different people I had great concerns on safety grounds. Mr Marron has, thankfully, walked away from two serious aircraft crashes.

“I believe he and his son had to be cut out of a second aircraft so after hearing all this it wasn’t a fit for me. Three strikes and you’re out.

"Very few people walk away from these crashes. I felt misled after finding out he was involved in both these serious accidents”.

Referring to Mr Garvey’s “excuse” about his accident history, Mr Marron said the accident history was “well known”. It was public news when it happened. he said.

“Mr Garvey was well aware of my accident long before we even discussed the matter in hand.

“He has known about that for years. He just didn’t discover it when he refused to honour his commitment. There is nothing sinister here”.

Mr Garvey replied that he had agreed to get the rating. “I never subsequently got that rating”. He added that there was no contract, verbal or written.

“We would normally have our own aircraft o site but this was a separate aircraft that he brought. I just didn’t feel comfortable going ahead with it”, he said.

The judge said her difficulty was that she had no figures written down before her and had difficulty making an order. She asked Mr Garvey if he was willing to make an offer to Mr Marron because he (Mr Garvey) had agreed to accept Mr Marron’s helicopter.

When he offered to pay €500 the judge said that was a “very fair” offer. Mr Marron described the offer as “paltry” but eventually decided to accept it and the case was settled.