Twin-Engine Accident 'Bound To Happen'
12:14pm UK, Tuesday June 02, 2009
Mark Stone, Sky News reporter
The aviation industry has extended the range of its two-jet engine airliners so far that an accident was bound to happen, a former British Airways captain has told Sky News.
Captain Eric Moody was speaking after it emerged a packed Air France jet, a twin-engined Airbus 330-200, had disappeared over the Atlantic Ocean.
He said: "They have changed the rules and now they have extended the range that two engine aircraft have to be away from an airfield at which they could land.
"They have stretched it and stretched it. I am afraid to say that at some stage there had to be this sort of incident."
The Airbus A330 is one of a number of different aircraft models with two rather than four jet engines.
Some analysts worry that twin engine jets, which have become the primary workhorses for trans-Atlantic flights, are at greater risk to tragedy than those with four engines.
They argue that aircraft with more than two engines provide a higher margin of safety.
In the event of engine failure in one or two engines, the plane can fly on the remaining ones.
Despite only having two engines, the Airbus A330 is among the most reliable of the Airbus fleet having only suffered two incidents of engine failure in its 11-year history.
It is a medium/long-range aircraft and was developed to compete with the Boeing 767.
There are two versions: the A330-200 and the slightly-longer A330-300.
The A330-200 was launched in 1995 and introduced in 1998.
According to Airbus's website, there are currently 341 in service around the world with a further 557 on order. Along with Air France, the planes are used by airlines including Ethiad, Qantas and KLM.
Only two have ever been lost.
The first, in June 1994, involved a test flight of the plane. An engine failure saw it crash at the Airbus headquarters in Toulouse, killing all seven crew on board.
The other incident, in March 2000, involved a Malaysia Airlines A330-300. The cause was established to be a corrosive liquid leak and not aircraft failure. The plane was written off.
The most remarkable incident involving this aircraft type was on 24th August 2001.
An Air Transat A330-243 completed what is thought to be the world's longest recorded glide over the Atlantic Ocean after a fuel leak resulted in both engines shutting down.
For nearly half an hour the plane glided powerless. It remained airborne for 65 nautical miles before landing in the Azores. There were no injuries.
The plane can carry up to 293 passengers depending on the seat configuration. It has a range of 12,500km.
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