Learn why Air Transat Flight 236 ran out of fuel, how its powerless Airbus A330 reached the Azores and whether everyone survived.
Air Transat Flight 236, an Airbus A330 flying from Toronto to Lisbon on 24 August 2001, exhausted its fuel after a maintenance-related leak over the Atlantic. Both engines stopped, but the crew glided roughly 65 nautical miles to Lajes in the Azores. All 306 people aboard survived.
What caused the fuel leak on Air Transat Flight 236?
The leak resulted from incompatible hydraulic components fitted during a recent change of the right engine. Their installation left inadequate clearance between a hydraulic pipe and a fuel pipe.
Engine vibration caused the pipes to make contact, eventually cracking the fuel line. Fuel then escaped from the right side of the aircraft faster than the crew initially realised. This was an accidental leak, not controlled fuel dumping; our explanation of the difference between fuel jettison and an emergency fuel loss covers that distinction.
The cockpit first presented the crew with indications resembling a fuel imbalance rather than an unambiguous fuel-leak warning. They opened the crossfeed valve to correct that apparent imbalance. In this failure, however, crossfeed allowed fuel from the sound left side to be supplied towards the leaking right side, accelerating the overall loss.
How did Flight 236 reach the Azores?
The pilots diverted towards Lajes before losing all power, then used the A330's remaining altitude as energy for an unpowered glide.
- Fuel indications became abnormal. The crew saw an increasing imbalance between the tanks, along with other unusual engine and fuel indications.
- The crossfeed valve was opened. This was intended to balance the tanks but allowed more fuel to reach the side with the fractured pipe.
- The aircraft diverted to Lajes. Once the scale of the fuel loss was clear, the crew declared an emergency and headed for the military and civilian airfield on Terceira Island.
- Both engines flamed out. The right engine stopped at about 06:13 UTC. The left engine stopped roughly 13 minutes later, leaving the aircraft about 65 nautical miles from Lajes at approximately 34,500 feet.
- The A330 glided to the runway. The powerless flight lasted about 19 minutes. The pilots made turns to lose excess height, lowered the landing gear using the emergency system and touched down at high speed.
The approximately 121-kilometre or 75-mile glide is widely cited as the longest unpowered glide completed by a passenger jet. It was a controlled glide, not a free fall.
How could an Airbus A330 fly with both engines stopped?
An airliner continues to produce lift without engine thrust as long as it maintains sufficient airspeed and a suitable descent angle. The engines provide thrust, but they are not what directly holds the aircraft in the air.
On the A330, the ram air turbine deployed into the airflow and supplied emergency power for essential hydraulic, electrical and flight-control functions. Capability was reduced, and there was no thrust available for a go-around, but the pilots retained enough control to steer and land the aircraft.
The landing was unusually fast because the crew had limited high-lift, braking and other systems compared with a normal approach. The aircraft landed hard, bounced and damaged several main-gear tyres while stopping on the runway.
Did anyone die on Air Transat Flight 236?
No one died. All 293 passengers and 13 crew members survived, although 18 people were injured, two of them seriously. Many of those injuries occurred during the emergency evacuation rather than during the glide itself.
The Airbus A330-243, registration C-GITS, was damaged but repairable. It was subsequently returned to airline service.
Were the pilots or maintenance crew responsible?
The initiating failure was maintenance-related, while the crew's initial fuel-management response increased the rate at which usable fuel was lost. The official investigation also identified weaknesses in maintenance control, component compatibility, leak recognition and operating procedures.
A fuel-leak diagnosis would have led to isolating the affected side rather than trying to balance the tanks. However, the available warnings did not simply announce the location and nature of the leak, so the accident cannot be explained as one isolated cockpit mistake. The investigation led to safety action covering maintenance practices, documentation, training and fuel-leak procedures.
Can Flight 236 be recreated in a flight simulator?
You can reproduce the powerless glide, but accurately recreating the leak and crossfeed sequence depends on how deeply the aircraft add-on models individual tanks, fuel transfer and failures. Starting an A330 around 34,500 feet and 65 nautical miles from Lajes with both engines disabled approximates the final glide, although aircraft mass and wind will change the result.
Our practical MSFS 2024 engine-failure and forced-landing procedure explains the control priorities. FSX users can also explore an Airbus A330-200 package with an Air Transat livery, though a visual model should not be assumed to reproduce the accident's detailed fuel-system behaviour.