Air Transat Flight 236 Runs Out Of Fuel Over The Atlantic | Mayday | On The Move

[Music] we are in an emergency [Music] on the night of the 24th of august 2001 a fully loaded airbus a330 with 306 people on board run out of fuel midway over the atlantic [Music] how could a state-of-the-art computerized airliner suffer such a catastrophic failure we have lost both engines due to fuel starvation we are gliding now well we're now 30 000 feet at the rate of descent of 2 000 feet per minute of water this film investigates what happened to air transit flight 236 this is it this is it's over you're just gonna die in the next five to ten minutes and speed's increasing 203 knots now it's way too fast [Music] [Music] august 23 2001 toronto international airport is busy air transat is a charter company that has grown rapidly to become one of the largest airlines in canada midsummer brings fewer business travelers and a holiday atmosphere air transat flight 236 is bound for lisbon most of the passengers are canadians visiting europe or portuguese immigrants heading home [Music] the plane a twin-engined airbus a330 is being flown by a young co-pilot doug dieger and an experienced captain robert piche captain robert is somewhat out of the ordinary captain piche from the moment he gets his wing he gets to learn how to fly in the north of the province of quebec where the conditions occasionally are very severe the flight deck of the a330 is ultra modern banks of computers connected to over 100 onboard sensors constantly monitor the operation of the plane this film reveals how serious problems can arise when the pilots begin to distrust the computers before departure the computers give no indications of any problems with the airbus [Music] short of 24 right [Music] with the crew of seven flight 236 has 306 people on board well we were married for four days in four days four days four days so we had planned to go to portugal for our honeymoon and we had booked this flight on the air transad and rather quickly because we hadn't really planned what we were going to do very carefully so this is the last light left [Music] well boarded on this flight to go on a two and a half week vacation with with a friend of mine um obviously he was very excited um spending two and a half weeks in the coast of portugal very excited feeling heavy cleared for takeoff two four zero at eight cleared for takeoff two four right trends at 236 heavy at 20 minutes past eight the airbus a330 loaded with over 47 tons of fuel leaves toronto for lisbon v1 rotate [Music] the weather forecast for the atlantic crossing is good everything runs smoothly on the flight deck apart from a small adjustment to the route to avoid congestion air traffic control directs the flight 60 miles south of its original route it's a minor alteration but will later play a crucial role the passengers settle down for the long crossing [Music] uh the reason for our trip to portugal was a family trip we were going to a wedding otherwise we would not have gone this year um so instead of just going for four days for a wedding we decided to stay for two weeks and throw the wedding in as a kind of family perk and see everybody everything appeared quite normal and in fact um i had traveled on air transat previously and found it not to be very good and was surprised by the quality of the flight that it was on time the plane was newer and we thought generally it was much better than we had expected it would be we're getting to our next checkpoint every 30 minutes across the atlantic the crew checked their position and fuel consumption against their flight plan 0.2 tons on the right 11.2 tons on the left despite the computerized systems some procedures like checking the fuel on board still need by comparing the amount of fuel in the tanks with the amount the flight started with the pilots can keep an eye on the fuel consumption fuel check complete level is normal for the distance flowing for the first five hours everything is routine the flight crew air transat and the accident investigators have all declined to be interviewed about what happened next this film uses known facts about the flight standard emergency procedures and expert opinion to reconstruct what took place on flight 236 [Music] is the first step in the crisis oil pressurism when the normal limits on number one number two is slightly high the computer display reveals that the oil temperature is low in engine number two but the oil pressure is high it is a very unusual reading the pilots are puzzled i can't see anything here i'll look at the f com okay a low oil temperature indication is normally indicative of bad readings bad sensor oil temperatures don't decrease normally they increase a low oil temperature would be of no concern the high oil pressure is is a very strange indication uh it's it's very rare in fact i've never actually heard of one it's only indicative of the contamination normally of the oil with fuel that's not something that's explained in manuals call the company the crew contact air transat's maintenance group in montreal transit 236 to mirabelle operations [Music] mirabelle transit 236 hi hi we have a little problem we're getting the warning oil temp low and oil pressure high on the ecam for engine number two there's nothing in the qra nor the f-com can you help us out i'm looking in the middle i need your solution the pilots must work it out for themselves they may have been given some advice uh on on troubleshooting uh to see um if that would help but ultimately you know the pilots are up there on their own uh you know they can get advice from somebody 2500 miles away but they can't really fix their problems suggest you keep monitoring your oil levels and see what happens because the oil building is a ceramic the crew keep monitoring the oil levels air transat 236 continues on track [Music] then 20 minutes later a new warning [Music] haven't seen that before follow all you can action i have air traffic control in the airbus 330 most of the fuel is in large tanks in the wings the computer has now detected that the fuel level on the right is significantly lower than the left the crew consult the airbus flight manual which recommends they transfer fuel through a special cross-feed valve fuel will then flow from one tank to the other but before opening the cross feed the pilots must be sure that the imbalance is such as a fuel [Music] [Music] once you begin a cross-feeding procedure to correct a fuel imbalance restorative action should commence quite quickly uh in other words the situation would not continue to uh to get worse it would you would either stabilize immediately and then begin to to correct itself but the situation is not correcting itself unknown to the pilots there is a major fuel leak in the number two engine on the right hand side of the plane [Music] foreign flight 236 is in mid-atlantic nearly 300 kilometers from the nearest land [Music] 39 000 feet over the atlantic nearly 300 kilometers from land air transit flight 236 in trouble unknown to the pilots the right engine is leaking fuel the plane's computer system has thrown up a series of warnings but the pilots believe these are computer errors have you ever seen something like this before nope never doesn't make any sense hey even if there is a leak it doesn't explain the alarms on the oil system well everything was okay at the last few check at 30 west yeah i bet you it's a computer problem the task of finding out if there is a fuel leak is made harder by the design of the airbus systems the systems monitor hundreds and hundreds of sensors and uh you know they can be affected by uh you know such mundane things as a little bit of frost or ice on a sensor can can uh can cause it to represent bad data so it's you know it's it's not something that would occur on on every single flight but it's something that we're quite used to dealing with there is no warning to show the fuel level is falling faster than the engine to consuming it pilots receive no immediate indication that there could be a fuel leak if your part isn't rising in the tanks of the right wing you can check your quality carries out the fuel calculations he discovers something is seriously wrong it's much less fuel than we should have it looks like [Music] checking in [Music] diego finds a disturbing difference according to all the gauges all the times in the right way are way below the level they should be according to the flight plan and it's hardly anything in the other ones what about a trim tank there's nothing there either [Music] yes hello first officer here although captain piche believes he is dealing with a computer problem he nevertheless decides to ask for a visual check just in case to see if there could be a fuel leak captain hi can you and karen take some flashlights and go to the windows if you can't see anything training back from the wings it'll look like a mist or stream ripper packing agency okay [Music] i want you to do another completely [Music] in daylight the fuel pouring out of the back of the wing would have been clearly visible but in the dead of night even with a torch the fuel leaking from the engine is impossible to see [Music] [Music] the crew evidently realized that the situation was not improving and at that point they realized that there's that their circumstances were becoming more serious and i think there were probably some discussions took place between the two pilots as to if the computer is correct then with the amount of fuel remaining our airbus will no longer be able to make it to lisbon captain is forced to make a crucial decision we've got it either get up to oceanic control where's the nearest airfield transat 236 heavy satellite control can you advise nearest airfield and possible fuel problem the nearest runway is over 300 kilometers away but with the fuel remaining the shares military air base on the tiny island resorts [Music] [Music] side of control [Music] match yet must be the computer transact 236 heavy center control no assistance required yet flight 236 continues flying south for the next 25 minutes everything in the cabin seems normal but in the cockpit the fuel readings are getting worse i've checked there's nothing in the trim or center tank the gauges show only seven according to the fuel gauges the plane is using fuel much faster than normal whether they believe the gauges or not the captain has no choice he must warn air traffic control we have to declare a fuel emergency transact 236 heavy sanitary control control transit 236 heavy go ahead [Music] transat 236 heavy declaring fuel emergency [Music] i really hope it's a computer bag because if we land in the azures we'll have a plane full of you know crucify us thank you [Music] but at 6 13 am less than an hour from the first fuel alarm the right-hand engine runs out of fuel strange on one engine the airbus will not fly 49 000 feet they must descend quickly try to transfer fuel from center tank and trim pain transferring quantity is reaching zero this can't be we're not gonna go completely dry on this airplane all right we can stay at 39 000 feet with just one engine hold this down to 33 000 to control those 236 collages power we have lost one engine engine flame out roger we can see you on primary radar you are at 135 we are 135 nautical miles from elijah's field well there's a whole lot of critical things going on in addition to that you uh you turn on all the exterior lights so people can see you're in trouble you have to broadcast your intentions on an emergency frequency um so that other people know that you're unable to maintain your altitude you may be you may be descending through their altitude so everybody else is now on the lookout for an airplane that's that's um in distress for the next segment of the electric airbus continues on its one remaining engineers with fuel to spare at the end might be all right fuel gauge is falling fast though it's nearly hitting zero [Music] up 13 minutes after the right-hand engine cut out and with 130 kilometers still to go the left engine begins to fail [Music] we have lost both engines due to fuel starvation [Music] one of the most sophisticated airliners of the modern era carrying 306 passengers and crew is now nothing more than a giant glider drifting steadily down towards the ocean [Music] um you can literally hear a pin drop the external has no sound in that plane in that cabin at all a lot of people were praying and um screaming for god my wife was a little hysterical my best friend was in another world the plane was dead silent except for the people who were who are very upset list of functions we've lost we have no more stabilizers and yellow hydraulic adr two and three no anti-skill no reversers radio hf one and two with the loss of both engines we have no electrical system as if the engines aren't running the generators aren't running so there's there's no power on the airplane there is a small device it's called a ram air turbine it will deploy from underneath the fuselage near the wing fairing and it's it's it's a small propeller that deploys out the bottom of the fuselage and it spins in the wind and that small propeller will provide very limited electrical and hydraulic systems to run the aircraft in other words although it's a glider at least it's a controllable glider calculate how far we can go with our glide angle will you well we're now 30 000 feet at the rate of descent of 2000 feet per minute we can handle hang on for 14 or 15 minutes [Music] i was just trying to calm her down like try and reassure her that everything would be okay it's a very big struggle to stay calm when you're considering your own death [Music] without power the plane loses one thousand feet in height for every five kilometers it travels forward they can reach the azores but if the pilots get their calculations wrong they may face a forced landing on the water [Music] is now drifting without fuel over the atlantic although their initial calculations show that the plane should make it to legends captain cliche must now follow standard emergency procedure for a passenger jet over water prepare together [Music] the cabin is slowly depressurizing [Music] the loss of engine power means the cabin soon depressurizes [Music] everybody please i need your attention we are preparing to ditch the plane i need you to put on your life jackets right now within probably i'd say two minutes um i saw flight attendants with life jackets in their hand running down the aisles obviously that was a sign of fear what was happening it was the first question that popped in my mind [Music] you know you don't really know what to think um but people did start to panic at that point when they were told to put on life jackets [Music] my best friend was talking to his father his father died three years ago but he's talking to him because he thought for sure he was going to be joining him and i just kept the same reiteration okay one hand on one leg one hand on the other both their arms clenched the mind kind of looking at my in-laws blinking you know it's okay it's nothing i kept thinking that if the plane did hit water that we would survive i was so convinced that we would survive no matter what happened to the plane that uh i was probably delusional fear just suddenly just kicked in from from my toes straight up to my head um [Music] at that point they started instructing us and giving us instructions of what to do in this procedure take off your shoes was one of them uh don't inflate your life jacket until we hit the water uh get into this position when we hit the water was a lot of it wasn't like ifs or maybes it was this was gonna happen this is the real ditching a deal passenger jet on the water presents severe hazards if the airbus 330 has to make a force landing the chances of survival in my personal opinion i don't think these airplanes would make very good boats typically an airplane with a low mounted tail like this as it enters the water one of the first things that's going to hit the water is the tail and it's probably going to rip right off and the fuselage is probably going to open right about there in 1996 a boeing 767 ran out of fuel off the coast of east africa its last moments were caught on amazon and reveal what happens when an airliner attempts a controlled landing [Music] of the 175 people on the ethiopian airways jet only 50 survived the chances i was surviving my ditching and floating for very long are not very good if air transat flight 236 has to carry out a similar maneuver it faces an equally grave outcome [Music] with over 100 kilometers before they reach these oars the pilots face a long and difficult maneuver they need to keep the plane gliding for more than 50 minutes to reach the azures there's very little time for any emotions at all you just you're just so focused on the mission at hand it's a life or death situation of course uh but your intention is to get it there you're not thinking about the alternatives but you're fully focused on you know on getting the airplane to its destination transat 236 heavy elijah's power power receiving transit 236 heavy do you heading and length latches power shines at 236 heavy runways three three and ten thousand eight hundred and sixty-five feet long airport dead ahead on your prison heading please advise when you have it inside [Music] 236 heavy we cannot see the airport we will tell you when we can as the minutes tick by the long wait for those on board is agonizing that's it that's this is it this is all it's over i'm just gonna die the next five to ten contemplated the minutes that we would die certainly and kind of you can i think in that moment you can accept it more than you think you would accept it i never thought i was gonna die i was in a little bit of a state of distress i did my best not to show it uh to try to keep the cool comma collected but there was certain times where i wasn't sure we would make it the torture of the whole fact that you're gonna die which i totally thought it was going to is worse to me than dying if i'm gonna die just kill me now just just get a gun and shoot me or just let this plane go down and nose dive into the ocean and then just die instantly on the ground emergency services prepare for the crash landing of a fully loaded airliner [Music] with 20 kilometers to go the crew now prepare for the most dangerous part of the operation getting their plane on the runway in one piece 36 heavy the largest tower do you have our distance with threshold now and weather please see the runway there is no room for error without power the pilots have only one chance at landing if they miss or overshoot the runway the results could be catastrophic [Music] i got it just to the right minimum rat speed is 140 knots maximum speed for gravity gear extension 200 knots i'm not lowering the gear until the last minute okay okay the crew struggled to lose height and speed for landing [Music] roger six nautical miles let's open the slats and let's slow us down a bit slots out and locked as they approach the runway their speed increases dangerously too fast and they can roll off the end of the runway lower the gear hold on speed is about 200 all right i stabilized the speed can you give me a landing speed please no engine no flaps ideal approach speed is 170 knots we're too fast yes under runway is very long captain piche now performs a difficult series of swerving maneuvers to slow the plane down for landing [Music] the plane was almost like a 45 degree angle i thought it was just gonna just gonna flip over and just nose dive straight down the plane was circling around the island to slow down so then we saw land and then we saw water and when i saw water again it really struck me that you know our chance for survival has maybe was gone the runway is long yeah sure but at the end is a 400 foot cliff if we don't stop in enough time we're toast we're dead the crew line up the giant airbus for final approach landing gear down and locked three green no flaps only the emergency brakes no spoilers no reverse thrust four thousand feet 195 knots [Music] three thousand feet 197 knots 2000 feet 200 knots allergy cabin cabin crew one minute to landing hang [Music] vertical speed at 3 000 feet per minute we're going way too fast and the speed's increasing 203 knots now it's way too fast 1 000 feet 201 knots i'll try to get those up right fast but even if the crew can get the airbus on the runway they face a further problem without engines the normal procedures for braking are severely restricted for flight 236 the danger is far from over [Music] the pilots must land the plane without power and somehow get it to stop everybody i need [Applause] airbus hits hard at high speeds down [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] after bursting eight tires the plane finally stops in the middle of the runway [Music] [Applause] [Music] thought you could make it i just wanted to get out of this airplane quickly i jumped i hit the ground hard it's my i don't think my my rear end actually even touched the chute at all i didn't slide down the slide i ran down it and they're just get out get out get out so you're just running out of this aircraft what in god's name just happened i i fell down to the ground literally and i just started i started crying i mean once you're off the plane and you're evacuated you want to know what happened vichy and diego had flown their airbus without power further than any passenger jets in history as news of their remarkable achievements spread around the world they found themselves reluctant heroes you don't have time really to think about anything else than taking care of the safety of your passenger you know that's your main goal and since we didn't have any engine the other main goal was to make the landing safely so at that time i guess the experience came in you know with the help of my colleague that's what that's why we made a successful landing are you praying for the worst but you never know how you'll deal with situations like this and um reflecting afterwards i feel uh we dealt in the most professional and complete what matter we could a feeling of being grateful to see all the passengers uh we're okay you know something like this happened you never know what what is going to happen really i mean you don't you stop not to believe it i mean it makes no sense that a big jet with two engine has no more power with 300 people on board you know but although the public story was a success disturbing questions remained why had a highly sophisticated airliner run out of fuel what exactly had happened to flight 236 away from the cameras an accident investigation began immediately by the portuguese canadian and french transport authorities initial checks quickly confirmed that all the fuel tanks of the airbus were indeed empty but to lose more than 17 tons of fuel in such a short space of time meant they'd had a major leak the question was where examine the fuel system searching for faults in the tanks and the fuel lines it wasn't long before they found what they were looking for just by the right engine in this particular case you had a hydraulic tube that's relatively small by comparison to the larger fuel tube and the hydraulic tube due possibly to pulsations in the hydraulic system were abrading against the larger tube and eventually the larger tube uh had a leak in it and the leak or not the leak itself but the the hole eventually possibly led into a fracture of the tube allowing this massive fuel flow outside of the engine the investigators began checking air transit maintenance records they discovered that on the 17th of august five days before the flight air transat had removed the right-hand engine for maintenance and installed a replacement unit sent by rolls-royce [Music] but as they analyzed the repair logs for the engine they uncovered a shocking mistake this was not a case of faulty design but a faulty maintenance rolls-royce had supplied the engine without a hydraulic pump assembly to overcome this transat mechanics had used the parts from an older engine but they didn't fit properly and the pipes had been rubbing together for five days until midway over the atlantic one finally broke the engine was delivered minus these two tubes and a bracket that the purpose of that bracket was to maintain adequate clearance so if they took the bracket off the old engine and put it on the new engine is that the pipes would be locked together so that they could possibly abrade so the the mechanics now i i can't fault them but they are not given specific instructions to verify the three millimeter clearance as investigators questioned air transat mechanics they found more disturbing evidence of malpractice [Music] the chief mechanic testified that he had been concerned about the substitution of another hydraulic assembly five days before the accident he raised his concerns with his superior [Music] he was told that it would cost too much to have the aircraft waiting for the missing parts and to go ahead with the substitution [Music] the replacement parts only differed from the correct ones by a few millimeters but it was a difference that almost cost 306 lives [Music] a few days after the accident air transat publicly accepted responsibility for the faulty maintenance we have to realize that there was a small as a mistake made in terms of changing the farm we installed it but then some some some pipes so to speak were needed to be connected to the pump and there was a mismatch the immediate consequences for air transact in that event was that they got to pay a fine of a quarter of a million dollar which was the highest ever in canada for an error that could have been prevented how someone that is supposed to be qualified in her job can put the wrong part onto an engine and risk 300 people's lives is is beyond me this incident is a very strong reminder that regulation is important and safety is important and lives will be lost in the absence of that in their real life it's not just you know this imaginary figure in your head of 300 people it's real people who suffer and continue to suffer as well if there hadn't been us suffering it would have been our families [Music] this was by no means the end of the story investigators now turn their attention to the cockpit itself what role had the crew played in the events of august the 24th could they have done more to avert the crisis key questions remained unanswered questions about what happened on the flight deck the investigation into air transit flight 236 discovered that basic maintenance errors had led to the fuel leak air transit accepted responsibility and were heavily fined [Music] but the focus now turned on the flight deck and the performance of the crew what part did they play in the fuel loss [Music] when the crew opened the cross feed valve to transfer fuel from the left wing tank to the right they lost 17 tonnes of fuel in less than 30 minutes yet they failed to close the cross feed valve and prevent furniture we have lost both engines due to fuel starvation we are gliding now in the days after the incident captain robert p shea and dirk diego were called before the inquiry and asked in detail about their actions more than two years later these findings have still not been published what follows are possible explanations for the course of events that night based on known facts and expert opinion too the warnings of high oil pressure and low oil temperature from the engine on the right wing would not allow the pilots to suspect that there was already a major fuel to look in the quick ride the indications that were being presented with respect to the oil system would probably not give the crew any indications they may have questioned what was causing uh the the erroneous or strange indications uh but uh there's nothing certainly in in my mind or their training i think they would have triggered them to suspect that uh you know a fuel system might be involved i bet you it's a computer problem but although the pilots thought they had a computer error the oil warnings were actually correct and were the first indication of a much more serious problem field imbalance warning i haven't seen that before when the fuel imbalance came up 20 minutes later showing less fuel in the right wing than the left it seemed unconnected with the oil and arms this could have reinforced captain piche's idea that he was facing a series of computer errors do not apply this procedure if a fuel leak is suspected despite his doubts captain piche was obliged to follow airbus procedure to correct the imbalance he opened the cross feed valve wing cross feed but was following the checklist enough you just can't uh idly flip switches in response to commands from the computers and anticipate that all will be well at the end of it you know once the checklist is complete uh we can sit there fat dumb and happy uh that's not the case at all you know you you gotta keep second guessing it you know is that right did we do the right checklist have we got the results that we need once the pilots calculated the high rate of fuel loss they should have suspected a major leak transact 236 heavy declaring fuel emergency by the time they had confirmed the leak frequency severely limited they were flying blind as they were there was there was no checklist information provided to him they assumed that once they had engaged in this procedure that the situation would resolve itself and it wasn't now they had a choice do i close the cross feed and uh and see what happens or do i leave the cross feet open as as the as the fuel and balance checklist as has dictated and maybe the situation will correct itself the crew wasn't really sure it wasn't uh an eventuality that uh it wasn't a situation that they had been trained for i'm sure um they were they were in new ground with with really uh no guidance to uh to help them if uh if they left the cross feed open or whether they closed the cross feed i could i would i would only be speculating as to what the as to what changes say it might have resulted in the outcome in this event captain piche believed for a long time that he was facing a computer error it was only when the engines finally stopped that he had to accept the fuel leak was genuine the technological complexity of modern aircraft can help to make them safer and more reliable but it can also lead to the problems that nearly brought catastrophe to air transit 236 discrepancies and replacement parts led to a fuel leak distrust of computers led the crew to this read the situation these errors combined to have huge implications only because air traffic control initially sent the plane 60 miles south to avoid congestion was flight 236 close enough to the azores when the crisis struck otherwise it would have had to ditch in the ocean the investigation remains unpublished airbus blamed the pilots for mishandling the fuel leak robert p shea and dirk diego continue to fly with hair transect in august 2002 they received the highest honors of the airline pilots association for the longest glide ever accomplished in a passenger airline after the accident airbus modified its checklist in the event of fuel and balance from now on the computer checks all the fuel levels it now gives a clear warning if more fuel is being lost than the engines can consume rolls-royce has reissued a service bulletin alerting all its clients of the incompatibility of two almost similar cars [Music] for the passengers trapped on flight 236 the trauma has left them with mixed feelings all right let's stabilize the speed uh this accident wasn't it wasn't caused by simply one emission by any one individual as is typical of most aircraft accidents there's a whole chain of events a whole series of of events that that lead to to the incident or to the accident and this accident was no different whatever the circumstances are the pressure that he was under is tremendous he he got that plane down safely only blew out eight of the 12 tires and saved 300 people saved 300 people's lives [Music] captain piche saved our lives and whether or not he made an error or if there was a failure of a computer it doesn't really matter because we're alive [Music] do i think he's a hero no do i think he's a hell of a pilot yes thank god the islands of these were there and basically saved our lives but if that fuel pump broke two five minutes beforehand we'd we would have ended up into into the water and probably be here to tell a story [Music] [Music] you

Channel: On The Move

Views: 878,617

Keywords: On The Move, air emergency, air travel, air travel disasters, airplane emergencies, airplane technology, aviation accidents, aviation communication, aviation protocols, aviation regulations, aviation technology, azores, cabin crew, cockpit procedures, documentary series, emergency procedures, eyewitnesses, flight emergencies, flight training, naval base, pilot training

Id: sbjOYWaGrfY

Length: 52min 3sec (3123 seconds)

Published: Wed Nov 24 2021