Niall Downey qualified as a doctor from Trinity College, Dublin in 1993 and received his FRCSI in 1997. Niall was a trainee in cardio-thoracic surgery in both Dublin and Belfast and subsequently retrained as an airline pilot with Aer Lingus in 1999. He recently retired from Aer Lingus after twenty-seven years, having spent his final three years operating the Airbus A330 from their Manchester long-haul base. Niall now focuses on implementing an aviation Human Factors approach to industry through his company, Framework Safety Group Ltd. Niall published his first book, Oops! Why Things Go Wrong, in 2023.