Now for the Air Transat A330 dead stick landing. It's a long story, and I
don't have all the facts, however:
1. The aircraft had undergone an engine change just a few days before,
and there is mounting evidence that an important modification was not done to
a fuel line on the replacement engine, and also there was disagreement
within the maintenance organization about whether to let the aircraft go as is. Sure
enough, the fuel line failed over the Atlantic, resulting in an engine
shutdown and a major fuel leak.
2. At this point, the flight crew apparently performed a number of
actions within a short period: they attempted to relight the failed engine, began
diversion to the closest airport, and attempted to deal with the fuel leak
and fuel imbalance situation. It appears the crew did not properly handle the
fuel problem, and while attempting to transfer fuel manually from the tail fuel
tank (which is normally controlled automatically), they mistakenly activated
the fuel dump system, which put them into deep do-do.
3. Fortunately for everyone, the pilots were Canadians, so dead stick
landing a wide body was second nature! Indeed, the Quebec Government conferred a
special heroism award on the Quebecois Captain - unfortunately the award
was tarnished a little bit after it was revealed that he had spent two years
in jail in Georgia about 20 years ago for running marijuana in his light
aircraft.
4. Transport Canada (the Canadian version of the FAA) doesn't get off
scott free either. It appears that they failed to properly examine Air
Transat`s A330 ETOPS maintenance and flight operations procedures before granting
them an unrestricted Trans-Atlantic license. That license has since been
withdrawn and several restrictions have been imposed on Air Transat.
Too bad all this happened to Air Transat, because they have had a good
safety record and good reputation up to now.
