Air Transat Flight 236 — 2001 aviation incident involving an Air Transat Airbus A330 over the North Atlantic Ocean
All 306 people aboard survived after the crew glided a fuel-exhausted Airbus A330 to an emergency landing in the Azores, setting the record for the longest engineless passenger aircraft glide.
Key Facts
- People on board
- 306 (293 passengers, 13 crew)
- Glide distance
- 65 nautical miles (120 km) nautical miles
- Captain
- Robert Piché, age 48
- First Officer
- Dirk DeJager, age 28
- Aircraft type
- Airbus A330
- Cause of fuel loss
- Fuel leak due to improper maintenance
By the Numbers
Location
Cause → Event → Consequence
An improperly performed maintenance procedure on the Air Transat Airbus A330 resulted in a fuel leak. On the night of August 24, 2001, while the aircraft was flying over the North Atlantic Ocean en route from Toronto, Canada, to Lisbon, Portugal, the leak caused the plane to exhaust all of its fuel.
With both engines lost due to fuel exhaustion, Captain Robert Piché and First Officer Dirk DeJager glided the powerless A330 for nearly 65 nautical miles in darkness before executing a successful emergency landing at Lajes Field in the Azores. All 306 people on board survived the incident.
The successful landing became the longest recorded engineless glide by a passenger aircraft, earning the plane the nickname 'Azores Glider.' The incident prompted investigations into maintenance procedures and highlighted the importance of crew training for handling total engine failure over open ocean.