Air Transat 236 20 Year Anniversary

[777Aviate]

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/na ... le1185102/

I was too young to remember and just recently got to read the full investigation of this incident. Anyone remember hearing about this and want to share their thoughts?

[Heliian]

Ya, Transat got "lucky" that 9/11 swept this problem under the rug.

It was a giant screwup by every single point along the way and it almost ended in a massive disaster.

Management pushed maintenance and the aircraft was released in an unairworthy state. The pilots failed to recognize the fuel magically disappearing and they ran out of fuel. Luckily the pilots were sober enough to land it.

Transat should have been shuttered after this.

[330heavy]

Ya, Transat got "lucky" that 9/11 swept this problem under the rug.

It was a giant screwup by every single point along the way and it almost ended in a massive disaster.

Management pushed maintenance and the aircraft was released in an unairworthy state. The pilots failed to recognize the fuel magically disappearing and they ran out of fuel. Luckily the pilots were sober enough to land it.

Transat should have been shuttered after this.

Transat hasn't written a plane off in its history, there are many operators who've done so and done worse and are still operating today. Should they have been shuttered? I'm sure you're an impeccable sky God from your armchair, so probably yes in your opinion.

[‘Bob’]

Air Transat 236: The true story of a recovering alcoholic and convicted felon who transferred all of his gas to atmosphere and then successfully glided the plane to a tiny island to save himself… and the lives of those who had the misfortunes of being onboard.

[Old fella]

Air Transat 236: The true story of a recovering alcoholic and convicted felon who transferred all of his gas to atmosphere and then successfully glided the plane to a tiny island to save himself… and the lives of those who had the misfortunes of being onboard.

Actually the pilot in question was pardoned in 2000 from his weed smuggling conviction and was considered rehabilitated. He finished with AT 2017(retired) and has a foundation in his name providing assistance for drug and alcohol addictions.

[RatherBeFlying]

As I recall, maintenance replaced a fuel line with an incorrect part and the crew followed the checklist which failed to include the possibility of an incorrect part dumping fuel overboard.

Full details in the report, and even on Avcanada.ca should you bother to do any research.

[mantogasrsrwy]

You are right. It didn't include that. But as I recall, it did include "Do not apply this procedure if a fuel leak is suspected".

[pelmet]

You are right. It doesn't say that. But as I recall, it does say "Do not apply this procedure if a fuel leak is suspected".

I believe they took a look to see if there was a fuel leak but it was dark outside. Fuel quantity indicators can be useful for identifying this as well. If I remember correctly, their indications were ignored.

One useful piece of information that came out of all this was that their first indication of a problem was low oil temperature. That was because the leak caused a greatly increased flow of fuel through the Fuel/Oil Heat Exchanger leading to a decrease in oil temp. Something we may like to keep in mind for a potential way to identify a fuel leak, depending on its nature.