Air Transat Flight 236

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Air Transat Flight 236
Summary
Date   August 24, 2001
Type   Fuel exhaustion
Site   Lajes Airport, Terceira, Azores, Portugal
Fatalities   0
Injuries   18
Aircraft
Aircraft type   Airbus A300-243
Operator   Air Transat (TS)
Tail number   C-GITS
Passengers   293
Crew   13
Survivors   306 (all)

Air Transat Flight 236 was an Air Transat route between Toronto and Lisbon flown by Captain Robert Piché and First Officer Dirk Dejager. On August 24, 2001, the flight ran out of fuel over the Atlantic Ocean with 306 people (293 passengers + 13 crew) aboard. The flight crew was able to successfully land the plane in the Azores with no loss of life.

Contents

[edit] Sequence of events

Flight TS 236 took off from Toronto at 8.52 p.m. (EST) on Thursday August 23, 2001; it made an emergency landing at 6.45 a.m. (UTC, or Coordinated Universal Time) on August 24, 2001, at Lajes Airport, Terceira, Azores, Portugal.

There were 293 passengers and thirteen crew members onboard. The aircraft was an Airbus A330 manufactured in 1999, configured with 362 seats and put into service by Air Transat in April of 1999. Leaving the gate in Toronto, the aircraft had 47.9 tonnes of fuel on board; 5.5 tonnes more than the amount of fuel required by regulations.

At approximately 04:38 UTC, approximately four hours into the flight, a fuel leak started.
At 05:45 UTC, the pilots decided to divert the flight to the Azores.
At 06:13 UTC, the right engine flamed out.
At 06:26 UTC, the left engine flamed out. There followed a 19-minute glide, over a distance of 65 nautical miles (approximately 120 km).
At 06:45 UTC, or 02:45 EST, the aircraft landed at Lajes Air Base, on the island of Terceira, at an estimated speed of 200 knots (370 km/h). An emergency evacuation of the aircraft was ordered, and took place in 90 seconds. [1]

Sixteen passengers and two crew members were injured during the evacuation of the aircraft. All injuries were minor or very minor, except for two passengers who suffered serious, but not life-threatening, injuries.

[edit] Incident

Unknown to the pilots, the aircraft had developed a fuel leak in its right engine. During the course of the flight, the pilots had noticed a fuel imbalance between the fuel tanks in the left and right wings of the aircraft and had attempted to remedy this by opening a cross-feed valve between the tanks. This only caused fuel from the operational tank to be wasted through the leak in the engine on the other side.

Without fuel, an aircraft's engines cannot operate to provide thrust or power the electrical generators. As the Airbus is a fully fly by wire design, without operating engines the plane is dependent on the emergency ram air turbine or Auxiliary power unit to allow the aircraft to be flown.

When the engines flamed out, many important systems became unavailable in this situation. Specifically, the aircraft lost its main hydraulic power which allows operation of the flaps, speed brakes, and landing gear brakes. Additionally, an aircraft without operating engines cannot use its thrust reversers to help with braking after landing.

The pilots of the Airbus A330 were able to glide the aircraft to a landing at Lajes Air Base, Terceira Island in the Azores. The reported landing speed was about 200 knots indicated airspeed, which is higher than the normal touchdown speed of 130 to 145KIAS. The incident had no fatalities, but there were some minor injuries. The favorable outcome of the incident was also due to the flight being rerouted on a more southerly route across the Atlantic due to congestion, bringing them closer to the Azores.


[edit] Investigation

The investigation revealed that the cause of the accident was a fuel leak in the number two engine, caused by an incorrect part installed in the hydraulics system by Air Transat maintenance staff. The part did not maintain adequate clearance between the hydraulic lines and the fuel line. This allowed vibration in the hydraulic lines to eventually degrade the fuel line, and cause the leak. Air Transat accepted responsibility for the incident and was fined CAN$250,000 by the Canadian government which is still today the largest fine in Canadian history.

Although pilot error was listed as one of the lead causes for the incident, it was the skill of the pilots which allowed the flight to land without fuel, causing only minor injuries to the passengers and minor damages to the airplane (which is still in service). The pilots returned to a heroes' welcome in the Québec press and a rather luke warm reception in the rest of the country when the details of the fuel transfer issue leaked out.

The incident also led to the Direction Générale de l'Aviation Civile (DGAC) and FAA issuing an Airworthiness Directive (link), forcing all operators of Airbus Model A318-100, A319-100, A320- 200, A321-100, and A321-200 Series Airplanes; and Model A320-111 Airplanes to change the flight manual, stressing that crews should check that any fuel imbalance is not caused by a fuel leak before opening the cross-feed valve. The French Airworthiness Directive required all airlines that operated these Airbus models to make revisions to the Flight Manual before any further flights were allowed. The FAA gave a 15 day grace period before enforcing the AD.

[edit] Dramatization

A documentary in the Air Crash Investigation series (also known as Mayday and as Air Emergency) was made about this incident. The episode's name is "Flying on Empty" and it was aired on the Discovery Channel and the National Geographic Channel.

MSNBC also produced a report on the incident, entitled "A Wing and A Prayer."

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

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