C-GITS, the aircraft involved, seen in 1999, 2 years before the incident
Accident
Date
August 24, 2001 (2001-08-24)
Summary
Fuel exhaustion due to fuel leak caused by improper maintenance, complicated by pilot error
Site
Lajes Airport/Air Force Base, Terceira Island, Azores, Portugal 42°43′59″N23°04′59″W / 42.733°N 23.083°W / 42.733; -23.083
Aircraft
Aircraft type
Airbus A330-243
Operator
Air Transat
IATA flight No.
TS236
ICAO flight No.
TSC236
Call sign
TRANSAT 236 HEAVY
Registration
C-GITS
Flight origin
Toronto Pearson International Airport, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Destination
Portela Airport, Lisbon, Portugal
Occupants
306
Passengers
293
Crew
13
Fatalities
0
Injuries
18 (16 minor, 2 major)
Survivors
306
Air Transat Flight 236 was a transatlantic flight bound for Lisbon, Portugal, from Toronto, Canada, that lost all engine power while flying over the Atlantic Ocean on August 24, 2001. The Airbus A330 ran out of fuel because of a fuel leak caused by improper maintenance. Captain Robert Piché, 48, an experienced glider pilot, and First Officer Dirk DeJager, 28, glided the plane to a successful emergency landing in the Azores, saving all 306 people (293 passengers and 13 crew) on board.[1] Most of the passengers on the flight were Canadians visiting Europe or Portuguese expatriates returning to visit family in Portugal. This was also the longest passenger aircraft glide without engines, gliding for nearly 75 miles (121 km; 65 nmi).[2] Following this unusual aviation accident, this aircraft was nicknamed the "Azores Glider".[3]
^Crossette, Barbara (September 10, 2001). "Jet Pilot Who Saved 304 Finds Heroism Tainted". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved August 21, 2007.
^"How a civilian aircraft in distress set a world glider record". We Are The Mighty. August 14, 2020. Retrieved May 25, 2021.
^Cite error: The named reference FOHE was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
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