A cabin crew member on a Ryanair flight that bumped back into the air on landing has settled a €60,000 damages claim against the airline for an undisclosed sum.
Francesco Schiazzano (24) who lives in Berlin and claimed he injured his lower back in a hard landing at Bristol Airport in March 2018 told Judge Elva Duffy in the Circuit Civil Court in Dublin that he felt like he had survived an aircrash.
He told his barrister Ben O’Connor, who appeared with O’Brien Murphy Solicitors, that the incident had happened at the end of a flight from Poland to Bristol when he was strapped into a crew jumpseat at the back of the aircraft.
Schiazzano told defence counsel Shane English he had experienced pain in his lower back immediately after the landing but had nevertheless acted as crew on the return flight to Poland where they were based.
He said he felt the crew seat he had been sitting on at the time was defective in that the cushioning had become worn. He had reported the incident to his No 1 lead cabin crew member and had follow-up treatment for low back pain radiating into his right hip on their return to Poland.
Ryanair’s No 1 cabin crew member on the flight told Mr English, who appeared with Martin Hayden SC and Fieldfisher Solicitors for Ryanair that it had been the heaviest landing she had experienced in her flying career but of the 175 passengers on board there had not been a single complaint.
Judge Duffy said it was clear from the agreed medical reports in the case that there were ongoing issues for Mr Schiazzano. She heard that the flight captain had not considered the landing serious enough to be reported as a “hard” landing.
Schiazzano had sued Ryanair which has its headquarters at Airside Business Park, Swords, Co Dublin, and Workforce International Contractors of Grange Parade, Baldoyle Industrial Estate, Dublin 13, on the grounds of alleged negligence.
He alleged the flight landed in an unsafe manner, coming down on one side and causing him injury to his lower back.
Following evidence from Schiazzano and members of the cabin crew and a former pilot and aviation expert, who considered the landing to have been a hard one, Judge Duffy was told the case had been settled.
The amount of the settlement was not announced in court.
