Mr. Evan Cullen:

A number of statements were made by the IAA to this committee on 24 November last. We challenge those statements. The specific statement by the IAA was:

There is one set of charts which are produced by the IAA on behalf of the State. These are visual flight rules, VFR, charts. These are charts that are intended for use in visual flying conditions. These charts specify safe altitude minima for different sectors of airspace. Those charts are provided by the IAA in compliance with International Civil Aviation Organization, ICAO, requirements for these specific VFR charts. The charts provided by the IAA are accurate.

We contend that is not true. We contend the charts provided by the IAA contain multiple errors. We have provided the committee with a booklet of many errors that have been pointed out by pilots over the years. I will not go through all of the errors that we have but they are in the booklet. I will highlight just a couple.

Offshore lighthouses have been depicted at the wrong location, at more than 1 km from the correct position. For example, Bull Rock Lighthouse was displaced south-east by 4 km. It is 4 km on the chart from where it should be. Fastnet Lighthouse was displaced south by 5 km. Tuskar Lighthouse was displaced south by 1.3 km. The lighthouses are just one example.

Mountains are at incorrect co-ordinates. For example, the spot elevation of Carrauntoohil mountain, 3,414 ft, is depicted at incorrect co-ordinates, located 4 km east of its actual position. The correct location is indicated on the display screen by a blue arrow. There are also telling incorrect data with regard to the Great Sugar Loaf and Little Sugar Loaf mountains in Wicklow, from where Rescue 116 operates almost on a daily basis, saving people who have got lost or injured in the Wicklow Mountains.

Lighthouses were located at wrong co-ordinates, again, I gave the example of the Bull Rock Lighthouse. In the pack I submitted, if members go to page 10 and look at the number at the top right-hand side, they will see Achill Island, which is just south of Belmullet and Blacksod. If the members look at the scanned copy of the current IAA Aeronautical Chart, edition 03, scale 1:250,000, west, they will see missing terrain elevation contours and tint. This was purchased from Ordnance Survey Ireland, OSI, on 19 May 2017.

Next to it is a scanned copy of the old ICAO Aeronautical Chart, edition 3, scale 1:500,000, 2002, showing the correct terrain elevation contours. As members can see, there are brown points at the north of the island and they are not reflected at all. Members will note that is not far from where Rescue 116 had the accident.

There is also a picture of the sea cliffs. Those sea cliffs, which are not depicted in the tinting of the layer, are the third highest in Europe.