What happened
On August 24, 2001, an Air Transable Airbus A330-243, registration C-GITS, was operating a scheduled flight from Toronto, Canada, to Lisbon, Portugal. During the flight, the crew identified a significant fuel imbalance. Following the discovery, the crew initiated a diversion to Lajes Airport in the Azores.
As the aircraft approached the Azores, the situation deteriorated rapidly. At 06:13 UTC, the right engine (a Rolls-Royce RB211 Trent 772B) suffered a flameout. Shortly thereafter, at 06:26 UTC, while at flight level 345, the left engine also flamed out. Faced with a total loss of power, the crew prepared for a possible ditching at sea.
Utilizing radar vectors from Lajes air traffic control, the crew executed a visual approach at night under good weather conditions. The aircraft landed on runway 33 at Lajes Airport at 06:45 UTC. Upon stopping, small fires ignited near the left main landing gear, though these were quickly suppressed by on-site crash rescue teams. During the subsequent emergency evacuation, 16 passengers and 2 cabin crew members sustained injuries. The aircraft incurred structural damage to the fuselage and the main landing gear.
The investigation
The GPIAAF investigation focused on the sequence of fuel depletion and the mechanical integrity of the fuel system. Investigators examined the aircraft's fuel logs, which revealed that a fuel leak had commenced at approximately 04:38 UTC. The investigation scrutinized the maintenance history of the right engine, specifically looking at recent work involving a fuel tube.
Technical analysis of the Electronic Centralized Aircraft Monitoring (ECAM) and flight data showed a rapid decrease in fuel quantity. The investigation also reviewed the crew's management of the fuel imbalance and their communications with the Maintenance Control Centre (MCC) and air traffic control during the emergency.