Pilot ‘escorted out’ of Aer Lingus HQ by gardaí says he felt like a ‘criminal’

A sacked pilot has said he felt “like a criminal” when gardaí escorted him out of Aer Lingus’s headquarters after he vowed go on hunger strike, accusing the airline of failing to act on alleged fume leaks into the cabins of its jets.

The pilot, former Airbus A320 Captain Tom O’Riordan, was continuing his primary evidence to the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) in his whistleblower penalisation action against Aer Lingus Ltd on Tuesday.

Aer Lingus strongly denies that any crew or passengers have been put at risk and says it dealt with O’Riordan and his concerns properly.

The pilot was sacked in 2024 after 14 months off sick after he said he was “poisoned” by oil contaminating the cabin air aboard an Airbus A320 he was flying empty to Dublin on 5th June, 2023, having twice reported odours or fumes in the aircraft the day before.