SYNOPSIS
The aircraft departed Lisbon with the Co-pilot as Pilot Flying (PF). The flight progressed without incident until commencing its approach to Dublin Airport. The approach was made at night; the weather and visibility were good. Due to scheduled maintenance on the main runway (RWY 10-28), RWY 34 was in use for landing. The flight was cleared by Air Traffic Control (ATC) to carry out a non-precision approach to RWY 34. During the approach, at approximately 5 nautical miles (nm) from touchdown, the aircraft began to deviate left of the approach course. This deviation was due to the Flight Crew mis-identifying the lights of a hotel at Santry Cross as those of the runway approach lighting system on RWY 34. The aircraft continued to descend below the Minimum Descent Altitude (MDA) without proper visual identification of the runway in use, and continued to descend to an altitude of 580 ft above mean sea level (AMSL) before executing a go-around.
At the point the go-around commenced, the aircraft was approximately 1,700 ft from the building and 200 ft above it. On the instructions of ATC the aircraft turned right and climbed to a safe altitude. The aircraft subsequently landed without further incident. There were no injuries.
