Discovering A SERIOUS Problem On The Aircraft's Tail | Flying On Empty | Mayday: Air Disaster
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- Опубліковано 12 вер 2024
- Thompson, 53, and Tansky, 57, are among Alaska’s most experienced pilots. Shortly after takeoff, they discover a serious problem with the aircraft’s tail. The stabiliser, the horizontal surface on the tailplane, won’t move.
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From Season 1 Episode 6 "Flying On Empty": On January 21, 2000, Alaska Airlines Captain Ted Thompson and First Officer Bill Tansky prepare for a routine flight to San Francisco, unaware of a crucial weakness in the plane’s structure.
The stabiliser plays a vital part in controlling the angle of the plane in flight. The pilots struggle to keep the plane level. The stabiliser in the tail is jammed, pushing the aircraft toward the ground. To compensate, they have to pull back on the control column. The plane is unstable. The pilots request to divert from San Francisco to the nearer airport in Los Angeles. They try again to free up the jammed stabiliser. The plane shudders violently and dives 7000 feet in one minute at a 90-degree angle as the pilots fight hard at the controls.
After the terrifying plunge downward, Alaska 261 has a reprieve. But aware that they have a full emergency, the pilots request to be routed out over the ocean. If the worst happens, they don’t want to kill people on the ground as well as the plane. The plane plunges out of control again, upside-down and tumbling, the pilots continue to try to control the plane as it crashes into the ocean.
Welcome to the OFFICIAL Mayday: Air Disaster UA-cam Channel.
Mayday: Air Disaster is a dramatic non-fiction series that investigates high-profile air disasters to uncover how and why they happened. Mayday: Air Disaster follows survivors, family members of crash victims and transportation safety investigators as they piece together the evidence of the causes of major accidents. So climb into the cockpit for an experience you won’t soon forget.
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#MaydayAirDisaster #MaydayInvestigation #AirEmergency #MaydayEpisodes #planecrashes #airplanecrashes #aviationaccidents #Fullepisode #airplanedisasterdocumentary #aircrashinvestigation #FlyingOnEmpty #AlaskaAirlines
What episode would you like to see on the OFFICIAL Mayday channel?
All episodes are fantastic and plenty interesting, but seeing a successful landing in a damaged plane sure does bring a tear to the eye 🥺
Are you able to do China Eastern flight 5735?
A flight from Chicago to Pittsburgh That crashed killing everyone on board. I think it was in 1994-95. I was almost on the flight coming home from US Navy in Great Lakes.
This isn't official A. B, AN FULL EPISODE NOT BROKE UP
I’d like to see ComAir 5191, of course if there’s been a documentary made by you guys on that specific accident.
They don't say this in this film but Robert Piché was more than "somewhat out of the ordinary". He had glider experience, had been trained by old school pilots in the Great North yes, but he was also a very complex character. He had been in jail for flying a plane loaded with drugs from South America to the US (look into it if you're interested, it's a complicated story) and a drinking addiction. By the time of the events of this flight, his personal life was falling apart and this was a life-changing moment. After that, he managed to kick his addiction, began helping other addicts and saved his broken family.
That flights was a moment of truth, the likes of you get once in a lifetime. A do or die moment. Commander Piché is a flawed man, far from without reproach. But when the chips were down, he pulled through and saved 306 lives. I salute you commander.
Edit : A lot of people comment how the pilots made a critical mistake and how they would never make such a dumb call... Well insight is a wonderful thing. We make decisions based on what we know at that moment. It's easy to say you'd act differently but truth is we don't know. Did they make a mistake? Yes, absolutely. But part of the reason Piché did not 100% trust the computer is also part of how he was able to make that miraculous landing. He was a kind of pilot that is now a dying breed, pilots with amazing flying skills and diverse flight experience. Those are the kind of pilots who can save a plane when disaster strikes.
Wow thanks for the info. I could never do that job.
Wow I didn’t know that I’ll take a look at it. Thanks for sharing that’s very interesting
Sounds like a movie script....wait I saw a movie like this... somewhere 😢
I salute you too Commander Piche. It takes a brave man to kick his flaws and come through like a professional
He was actually the reason they ended up as a glider. Naaaahhh it’s just a computer malfunction, go ahead and cross the fuel over. *loses engine* Doesn’t shut off the cross feed. Naaaaaah it’s a computer thing is all. No hero there.
I was on a Dash 8 seated in the last row and as we taxied at Perth I noticed a liquid leaking from the port engine. I thought it might have been accumulated moisture from the previous rain. As we commenced take off run the flow increased and I immediately told the cabin crew behind me that the engine was leaking fluid and she communicated this to the pilots. At this point the aircraft had rotated and was climbing but immediately levelled out and began a circuit to land again. We landed and the pilots stopped on a taxiway the fire crews attended the aircraft and we stayed there for quite. Due to the quick response of the pilots I believe they became aware of the problem after the aircraft had rotated. Good outcome anyway!
do you know what was the fluid? was it a leak or just moisture?
@@camila8031 it was a fuel leak. Apparently a ferrule nut had failed and as the engine came up to full power the leak got really bad. Delayed the flight for about 6 hours until another aircraft became available!
@@peterclancy3653 oh.. glad everything turned out well in the end!
You are a hero and you saved anyone from a possible catastrophic crash .
I second that, (you are the hero) as well. The passenger here that is leaving this comment and spotted the fuel leak is the true hero. Thanks to your observance to detail you were the key to saving everyone's lives on that plane. We don't know if it would have crashed and burned, but it very well could have. It could have taken the pilots a long time to figure that leak out, if at all. You sir, alerted them right away! Way to go!
My father was a British Airways engineer/fitter. He retired early due to stress. He new the weight of the responsibility of people's lives in his hands. As he got older he just couldn't cope with that stress anymore. He passed away over 20 years ago now. Bless you dad. Miss you. ❣
Why not just be a small time pilot then ?
@@lindinle let him rest FFS
Ameen
I think the 6th passenger knew he was stuck in his seat and didn't want to waste time for the other survivers and handed them the rope. Poor guy! So sad!
Love and prayer for ur beloved father from Bangladesh 🇧🇩
That lady, lol. "Yeah we flew with Air Transat before and it kinda sucked. But this flight impressed us, was a nice new plane, no delays, crew was really nice. Then it ran out of gas over the Atlantic ocean and we almost plunged to our deaths. One star."
Captain did glide us to an emergency landing saving all our miserable lives so making it 3 stars.
Don’t call it gas again mate it’s fuel ,fuel is a liquid gas is well clearly a gas. If engines used gas surely the cabin could have passed “gas” and farted there way to Lisbon
Hope you are joking. Otherwise get a life.
This style of storytelling in documentaries is rare and special!
**groan**
This was a particularly bad one. As if we need to know the passenger’s wedding plans?! Come on now.
Agree..I had the same problem on my Citroen, seems as French Engineers don't understand the importance to keep pipes apart..Then to built a plane with 670 sensors but ignore fuel consumption alarms is just criminal
@@emmettturner9452 Yeah... Kinda felt like they had a lot of "filler" - random stuff about the passengers - but without the airline, pilots or investigators working with them they didn't have that much... Mainly I think they just made the ep too early - if they'd waited until the report was out before they did this ep they'd have had much more information - and also, the investigators etc would be much more likely to agree to an interview, because then it would no longer be an active investigation. But then, this ep is from the *first* season - they had no idea back then that their show would last for so many seasons, and this really is a very interesting case, one I'm glad that they did at least manage to do.
25:12 You are NOT supposed to inflate your life preserver when you hit the water, you are supposed to wait until you are OUTSIDE the plane.
Inflating the preserver while inside the plane, could possibly cause you to float to the ceiling and get pinned, and can also make it to where you cannot get your head under water to exit the plane if it's flooding, and the plane will drag you down with it.
Get out of the plane first THEN inflate your flotation collar.
If that is a protection, rather than a criticism so you will feel smarter, then I will listen. Otherwise, keep it to yourself please.
@@CynthiaSchoenbauer I don't give a Fk whether you listen or not.
Not only is it the official procedure for a water landing, but it is common sense for anyone with a basic grasp of simple physics.
@@CynthiaSchoenbauer ---- That is the correct procedure for a ditching. Many people have died because they failed to follow.
That's the correct procedure. Inflate only when clear of the aircraft.
@@CynthiaSchoenbauer it's legitimately the correct procedure..... Why such a snarky reply to someone who was just trying to pass along educational life saving information?
I bet you are real fun at parties.....
It's fascinating when you consider all of the things that can happen and are going wrong that will lead to your demise but just as equally fascinating is all the things going wrong that lead to you not dying. The variables although seemingly inconsequential at the time end up being so profound that it is literally the difference between life and death. And that just blows my mind.
I believe in proper parts too. The landing gear was being ground tested after a change. The trainee next to me installed a cotter key but I told him it was too small & handed him the thick one I had stored in my pocket. He brushed it away and the mechanics swung the gear on jacks and the key broke. The line burst and hydraulic fluid under 1500 psi sprayed all over me and in my eye. I went to the ER after I flooded my eye with water. Still can see and retired after 40 years of work.
No fuel, no weight. Still, the pilots had one shot, and no margin of error in calculating the glideslope to the runway. Excellent job!
BUT it WAS the fault of either both the captain and the copilot or the fault of the captain after the copilot brought to his attention that the fuel tank # 1 was losing fuel. That fuel tank was supplying fuel to that remaining functional engine on the left wing.
If they were paying close enough attention to what was really going on they would realize that if they turned off the fuel crossover valve it would have stopped the # 1 fuel tank from losing any more fuel and then it would have given them plenty of fuel to land properly when only using that one good engine on the left wing.
It was the unprofessional and sloppy pilots that almost caused that plane to crash in the water and killing most everyone on board.
Now you see why they told all the flight crew and other witnesses not to say anything to the producers and writers of this "Mayday: Air Disaster" program? And think about the amount of additional insurance settlement cash payouts there would've been to all of the survivors of that plane crash whom almost died mostly because of pilot error.
MayDay is one of the most favourite shows of all time. The wonderful portrayal by the team. Very happy to see all of the lives alive. My wishes on their way from Bangladesh
It's nice that if you read what actually was said and done, this show portays it very accurately, with very little hollidow style bs
The pilots have my full respect and praise for saving everyone onboard and this is by far my favourite of these shows.
Great job! Saved 300 lives with zero fuel gliding 150 kms! In Medicine, similar situations (with no clear diagnosis) - we are always trained to work on a broad differential diagnosis and never get fixated on a "Single Diagnosis". I am not a Pilot but interestingly Anesthesiology & Piloting a Plane has lots of similarities. I have learnt a lot watching Aviation accidents.
Capt. Pichet is right up there with Sully and Pearson of the Gimli glider.
No he is not. He clearly let the transfer of fuel happen with a suspected leak. I would never do that. EVER
@@dashcan8479 Initially they had no reason to suspect a leak.
Captain is at fault. He looks arrogant too.
No reason to suspect leak? Why did he ask the air hostess to check from window? And he is dumb to know that they can't see from window in dark.
@@ahdon3 At least he saved 300 people's lives. Sheesh, dude.
The captain sounds so cool, especially confronted with an extremely stressful situation. Good job gentlemen.
The captain finally came to his senses at the end, but his refusal at first to believe that a fuel leak could be happening put many people's lives at risk!
@@beringstraitrailway WDYM, & what're you talking about?!
@@beringstraitrailway Its easy for you to say that on the ground and nothing happening, but put yourself in his shoes with the distressing situation that is becoming bigger by the second, would you have made the right decision? I don't think so.
@@originflightstudios He probably wouldn't have, but he doesn't have a commercial pilot license either. A pilot is expected to have this much common sense. He could have always emergency landed the plane on one engine.
Some years ago there was a British Airways 747 which,while flying through unexpected volcanic ash (from a nearby eruption),had all four of its engines shut down. The Captain got on the PA and,calmly,said to the passengers something like "I hope you're not too distressed".
To call the Ethiopian ditching “controlled” is misleading. There was still a struggle between the pilots and the hijackers actively going on all the way down to the water. Otherwise the pilots would have put it down wings level, it probably wouldn’t have broken up so extensively, and there’d probably have been more survivors (of course it wouldn’t have ended up running out of fuel and ditching if it hadn’t been hijacked!).
Although you are partially correct the pilots were faced with an unenviable situation. Ideally you do NOT want to land parallel to the waves (which increases the chance of catching a wing or engine). On the other hand, he wanted to keep the aircraft as close (to the beach) as possible in the hope of saving lives if/when the fuselage broke up. I have to say I've extensively practiced crash landing on the ocean (simulator of course) in various configurations, various weather and ocean conditions, and with various aircraft ranging from the 330 to 777. The best outcome was the 330 however all other attempts ended in catastrophic damage to the aircraft. The engines tear away on touch down but almost invariably the aircraft either dives in or cartwheels or slews so violently the fuselage disintegrates. It's not until you get down to aircraft with smaller engines that you stand a reasonable chance of surviving. In the case of the Ethiopian ditching, a significant issue was the number of passengers who inflated their jackets before (trying to) exiting the aircraft. Many were trapped in the water-filled fuselage and, panicking, failed to realize they need to remove their jackets in order to escape.
didn't everybody survive the initial impact but then drowned due to some inflating their life jackets
@@potato1907 not everyone but a good number did survive then died due to drowning because they activated their lifejackets before exiting the plane.
details
O ok
Amazingly the crew were able to glide the airplane for this long distance and were able to land the airplane under all this stress and save all these people's lives...they didn't know that there was a fuel leak in the system
The number one lesson is here no matter how busy it is make sure all airplane must have inspection before going out to fly anywhere it is responsibilities of the owner to make sure all plane are fixed and properly maintenance done to it like putting or changing part the right parts for the pane that I have problem take time examine the airplane make sure all the parts are all put in properly oz you don't want your airplane flying with lots of minor defects coz nobody care enough to take care of it with bunch of mechanic doing maintenance they should do heavy inspection coz it is their responsibilities for it's safety before departure it is costly for the consumer as well for the airplane owner it cost lives for failures of maintenance for the plane itself they should make a check list for the present problemsitmay have and they have in the future inspection is a must and maintenance is a must don't forget it's a big responsibilities for any airlines to make sure all the equipment is properly installed and the right parts for the airplane all defects must be recorded and reported prevention to avoid destruction for the plane and death for the people to save lives at the same time good day to all who read this Mrs Elizabeth k riparip I'm not accusing any body it is my opinion and suggestion only
the captain was very naive still considering a computer glitch after the first engine flame-out. It was pure luck that he made it to the Azores
Wander what the glide angle was??
the pilots forgot to close the X FEED which caused the lost of all remaining fuel from the left side tanks
I think HE IS A HERO ..if it true no one died or injured all 300 people safe on the ground.Only destroyed all 8 tires because of the mechanical error not them. I bet it stressful not knowing what's the caused???
Given the situation and their knowledge at that time, I don’t blame the pilots one bit. They handled the crisis with professionalism and saved everyone onboard. 👍🏻
Rubbish. The pilots were a major contributor as they failed to follow airbus procedures. If you want a more accurate assessment of the crew's actions, head over to the wikipedia entry or read the official report. The blame was apportioned to poor maintenance procedures and pilot error. They were treated as national heroes on return to Canada but in my opinion they should've lost their pilot's licenses.
@@davidgapp1457 You know the saying nobody is perfect? Guess not. It was a very unusual situation for both pilots, and the crossfeed was in the manual, and they decided to override the readings of the computers with this. Turned out the computer was right but they couldn’t know. They also couldn’t see the leak. It’s funny how you blame the pilots behind your keyboard, despite a lot of professional pilots claim they did an good job and saved everyone. As with everyone, they are not perfect and can make mistakes. But that doesn’t mean they didn’t handle probably, they did an good job. Have an nice day.
@@woutertje026 lf you fill up your car and 1/2 an hour later your down to a 1/4 of a tank are you just going to fill it back up, or are you going to find out why ? Yes, l know they couldn't stop and look, but that is what gage's are for. Put an eyeball on it, if it's going down then there must be a reason, so don't throw more fuel in it and say, Ok, that will fix it. What is so hard about using you're head, especially when you are flying plus being over the ocean. This was STUPIDITY on parade!
The pilot was much too stubborn.
@@woutertje026 Stubborn pilots. Distrust on computers.
Absolute KUDOS to the 2 pilots for their heroic landing... that was some hairy situation. And also a life saving call by air traffic control to change the route. Without that call, this episode becomes a tragedy...
BUT it WAS the fault of either both the captain and the copilot or the fault of the captain after the copilot brought to his attention that the fuel tank # 1 was losing fuel. That fuel tank was supplying fuel to that remaining functional engine on the left wing.
If they were paying close enough attention to what was really going on they would realize that if they turned off the fuel crossover valve it would have stopped the # 1 fuel tank from losing any more fuel and then it would have given them plenty of fuel to land properly when only using that one good engine on the left wing.
It was the unprofessional and sloppy pilots that almost caused that plane to crash in the water and killing most everyone on board.
Now you see why they told all the flight crew and other witnesses not to say anything to the producers and writers of this "Mayday: Air Disaster" program? And think about the amount of additional insurance settlement cash payouts there would've been to all of the survivors of that plane crash whom almost died mostly because of pilot error.
Those pilots were amazing. They kept their cool and prevented a catastrophe. Well done 👏..
SMH. It was partially their fault for getting into that situation.
@@derser541 u don’t know the aircraft, u were not in the pilot’s position that time, so shut up.
@@FRED-dq8jf read the report, muppet
@@derser541 how??? They cant control this error. Gtfo
@@jonathansellars885 yeah they can't control mechanical failures, but once they realized that the fuel imbalance wasn't righting itself they should've closed the cross feed valve immediately.
Instead of going with the most likely theory of a fuel leak, at least the captain kept pushing the computer error thing which impaired them in their decision-making.
I see the time length on these videos & think, am I going to watch this whole thing, then once I start watching, I can't stop. It's edge on your seat content.
I've watched several of these videos.
In a large percentage, the issue always goes back to cost.
The airline industry is much like the automotive industry in that way.
Money always wins.
uh yeah if "money" wasnt a constraint we'd all be dancing around on the moon having a lot of fun right now
As a former Jet engine mechanic, I figured out there was a fuel leak in the engine just by the oil temp and pressure fault indications. Cold oil gets thicker when it is cool so the pressure goes up and fuel evaporates so it cools. The fact that it was a turbofan engine means there has to be a transition pipe for both fuel and oil to go into the core of the engine (where all the oil wetted bearing are and combustion takes place) through the fan duct and the fuel line has to be upstream of the oil line. If it had been DAYLIGHT the flight attendant should have been able to see that fuel was streaming out of the engine. I don't believe the crew could have known these very technical things about the engines, however not shutting the crossover valve when things didn't correct pretty quickly was a big mistake. Especially when there was a warning in their manual that said NOT to do this procedure if fuel leak is suspected (even though it wasn't suspected at first they should have undone that step when it was obvious). As far as the wrong part being put on the engine as depicted in the show, the blame should be on supervisor. The lack of clearance between the two lines IS the fault of the mechanics. Chaffing is a big deal for all jet engine mechanics and there are many ways to correct it (especially if you know the wrong part is being put on).
@Schooey The mechanic did and told the supervisor, who insisted that it be used.
Great review.
Thank you
Weird that the fuel levels were fine in the initial check?
@@timsiragusa9096 It broke after the initial fuel check. It happened at the time they got the oil temp and pressure warnings. As I said before, I would not have expected the pilots to make the connection between the oil warnings and a fuel leak (very technical). What I would expect them to know, is that when the crossover valve switch was opened and the problem didn't improve within a minute or so, to shut that valve.
Thank-you for sharing!
There’s always human error that caused accidents again and again. As a frequent flyer, I can only avoid boarding any irresponsible airlines as much as I can. Yet who could tell what is going to happen. Thanks for the fantastic report.
That captain is such a badass LMAO "told you we'd make it."
It's funny when people say "He should have done that" as they know better. Yes, pilot error exists, it happens, but flying a plane and understanding what the plane is doing is no cakewalk. If you were put in that same situation as the captain with no knowledge of this event, would you make the right decision and save all those lives? Most likely not.
Me being on the ground and thinking "he should have closed the Xfeed" but they were probably dealing with multiple issues that seemed to get bigger and even though the video makes it longer than it was, time in an airplane (When flying it) speeds up drastically due to all the jobs the pilots have to do. When the first engine flamed out, the critical situation at the time was to get to a lower altitude as 39,000ft was not doable with the single-engine, this caused an increasing problem that diverted away from seeing if there was a fuel leak.
Flying a plane can be difficult, especially a jumbo jet, as it's more complicated to deal with than your typical Cessna 172.
There's two things in common between a truck and an airplane.
They both don't get along so well without fuel
You trust your gauges individually til each one gives you reason not to, not because another one isn't working.
The fuel system and the engine lube system are unrelated, beyond the fact that the connectors for the sensors being filled with fuel likely caused the odd readings.
Their flying was superb once the fuel was gone. However the captain should not have assumed the computer was in error. They are taught to trust their instruments. He made a very foolish decision out over the ocean many miles from land.
@@almorris171 o
My favorite quote was from the AeroPeru flight when the investigator said “it’s easy now, in an office with clear visuals and in no immediate danger it’s easy to say this is what they should’ve done”
Very very well put, it's so true
This is by far one of my all time favorite series!!
The only thing that sucks about this series, I've seen every episode. Some episodes more than once.
Lol, “one of my favorite by far” is an odd way to put it.
Ik me 2
can't believe it glide all that long.. unbelievable.. 👏 👏 👏 for the pilots
Unless the fuel imbalance is impairing the ability to handle the plane, it would be a good idea tocheck the fuel consumption again, before cross feeding the tanks! Even then, you should just turn on the feed for a few seconds, and then recalculate the fuel consumption. If those steps are not part of the checklist, then they should be!
Edit: Ok maybe turn on the crossfeed for a minute or two, but don't just leave the crossfeed switch turned on!
Even if there's not a leak, then the engine on one side is consuming fuel more rapidly than it should, which is also not got, so maybe that engine should be shut down, for as long as possible.
Xfeed for a few seconds would not have done anything to help with the calculations. Xfeeding for a few minutes will give you accurate results. It had a warning that said to not Xfeed in a fuel leaking situation, however the leak was not detected due to the oil pressure and oil temp lights, how do the pilots know there is a faulty part that broke? They don't. Checklists evolve overtime and everyone cannot think of every situation that will occur in the air.
agree they should keep waching and not turn on xfeed.
The 5 minutes til the next fuel check was sufficient.
Shutting off the crossover would have verified the fuel leak, which side it was on, and given them plenty of time to make a powered landing.
@@scotcoon1186
I guess they did. Cross feed valve was opened at 10:13, and shown to have been closed at 12:56.
The pilot should not have been stubborn and keep blaming the computer readings. He should have compromised and give it a try to calculate the fuel consumption every couple of minutes after deploying the fuel transfer system. Or ignoring the fuel imbalance and keeping xfeed off will result in shutting down the damaged engine which will help him to find out that indeed there is a leakage
Opening the wing cross feed valeve was a huge mistake. Had the pilots left it closed, they could of still fly with 1 engine. Fortunately, they were able to land with no power on both engines.
18:00 makes me laugh each time, the "oh uh oh.. oh oh uh oh". Great voice acting.
He was landing like the space shuttle which was also a glider. It did a bunch of S turns to burn off speed on the way in.
He is a hero with no doubt and his mate they did everything perfectly when engine quit
Captain and 1st Captain were incredible!!!! Congratulations to those two heros
Captain and 1st Captain, eh? Nice.
Captain and co pilot u mean?
Once they put on their black sun glasses, it felt really confident they would make it. Such men just truly cannot fail :)))
I'm glad these stories sometimes have a happy ending 👍
Intense episode. I've flown over oceans more times than I can remember. Even though I knew they would be okay since survivors were being interviewed, this one had me on edge. Greetings from Cambodia and thanks for the upload.
Real aviators were flying this airplane on that day! Incredible skill and guts!
yeah but they ignored an obvious fuel leak for TWO HOURS and that's while they were checking fuel every 15 minutes!
Like, every 15 minutes they were like "not enough fuel sir" "ok"
@@thewhitefalcon8539 Exactly! How could they not trust the information that they had?
@@thewhitefalcon8539 oil temp low n oil pressure high not indication of fuel leak.
@@christiankansichi6622 because those information were incomplete.
@@abhishek9354682116 however, basic konwledge of an engine will tell you that contaminating hot oil with cold fuel with cause low temp and high pressure. its my opinion that they should have been able to deduce a fuel leak immediately from the fact that there was such an imbalance in the L/R tanks and that the x bleed valve didn't help it.
I think the pilots did the right thing. The captain leveraged the idea that he might wrong with what he was doing. In his mind he kept his options open for the possibility that he was doing the wrong thing. That was instinct not just to fly but also instinct to survive. And those things make him a hero pilot. I think it is possible that if this happened on the original flight path, he still would have made it because he made it so that he had room to spare. Yay! I celebrate him, and them, as heroes.
Part of the title and description are wrong...they are for "Cutting Corners," not "Flying on Empty."
You'd think the instruments would indicate an abnormally high fuel flow to the right engine and it seems that the crew should have been quicker to realize that there was indeed a leak. Fortunately it ended well though.
That was one of the fixes airbus added as a result of this accident actually
At the very least the second a fuel leak was suspected close the Cross Feed and shut down the engine on the side of the suspected leak.
For no other reason than the risk of fire, which would have ended this QUICKLY with complete loss of all onboard.
If the fuel flowmeter was located between the engine and the leak, the fuel flow would appear normal.
Then, no, now, they do. This was identified, added an alarm "if fuel level depletion rate is higher than max capable fuel consumption, an alarm will sound"
omg, this episode was like giving birth to octuplets!!! I suffered through it all the way!!!!! Amazing crew... they are the reason not a single life was lost. Hats off.
Uhh... i wouldnt say you'd be birthing 8 babies of a life or death situation
This was the first ever Air Emergency story I ever saw on NatGeo back in the day
Yay. Da Ja Vu!
A flight we'll never forget, espically those who are Portuguese, and often fly from Toronto to Portugal, or Portugal to Toronto, I fly often, returning home to Portugal, and to work, and when this occured, first thing I thought, this could of been me, or someone that I know. I wish they got more of the Portuguese passengers side, and Portugal's investigation.
I'm burst in tears, they truly hero... I salute them for saving the plane and all the passenger... Amazing work... Good job👍👍👍👍👏👏👏
You just have to give so much credit to those pilots under such incredible circumstances in that situation.
6:28 "The flight crew, Air Transant, and the accident investigators declined to comment on what happened next" why?
Because Air Transat had a bad reputation of avoiding questions. Look up its owner back then and what he does now...
@@FrederickMarcoux Legault or Lemay?
@@butterpecanbrielle Both
The pilots were badasses....they still saved many lives despite the couldve wouldve should've of the messed up fuel tanks and their judgement
they are incompetent
@@petperthecommenter3364 I want to see you fly that plane and make the calculated decisions they did. I bet $100 you will end up crashing in the ocean.
@@originflightstudios they drained the fuel tanks ..idiots
@@originflightstudios he wouldn't as he wouldn't have opened the cross feed to begin with. None of what you say justifies the actions of someone who has the license to fly. Comparing people who have the license vs people who don't is unfair to begin with.
@@rockwithyou2006 if people don't have a license (or aren't engineers in the field) to understand how planes work, than they should keep their uniformed opinions to themselves.
No way you are going to make a flight from Alaska to Portugal on short-to- medium haul airliners without a refuel, even if you transform your Alaska Airlines MD-80 Into an Airbus under charter halfway across Canada.
??? duh what?
they were not going to Portugal from Alaska.
Read the description. A flight from Alaska with a stabilizer failure on an MD 80, but the video is about an Airbus running out of fuel.
Pilot was wrong. He should have trusted his copilot and closed the cross-feed valve to stop wasting precious fuel in the right engine.
What a captain... Bravo to him and the first officer
Captain was an idiot for the first half.
@@gavcom4060 don't talk about him like that, if u were in his place u would've crashed the plane in 2 seconds bc of ur dumbness.
Exceptional airmanship
A Delta flight just turned back 2 hours into a trans Atlantic flight for a fuel imbalance. They turned around and returned to JFK. Thankfully everything went well.
Good. Always assume the worst
I once had an incident flying from Trenton, NJ to Montreal, PQ. This was in the middle of January so it was very cold outside.
The aircraft was a Piper PA-31 Navajo Chieftain. I was flying right seat, and my instructor was PIC. We had the heater on full blast as it was -20F OAT (Outside Air Temperature).
It turns out that this was an early production PA-31 and in that aircraft the heat was provided by burning some of the fuel normally out of the right wing tank. The problem was that the fuel was taken PRIOR to being recorded in the fuel flow meter so the amount of fuel used was not easily seen. This was not a big problen because normally the fuel used was a miniscule amount.
About 3/4 of the way to YUL (Montreal Dorval Airport - Now Pierre Trudeau Airport) the right engine quit. I quickly opened the crossfeed valve (as this was a "memorization item" on the checklist) and the engine roared back to life. I wondered where all the fuel went because the fuel flow on both left and right engines was identical.
When we landed, I noticed that there was a streak of black soot trailing the heater exhaust. The control valve for the heater was suuck open and the fuel/air mixture in the heater was extremely rich causing an abnormally high use of fuel that was not noticed. This was because of the design of the fuel metering system not taking in account of fuel used by the cabin heater.
In the case of the A330, the pilots were not given the training of how the oil was cooled. There is a heat exchanger to cool the oil using the cold fuel to cool it.
When the tubing opened up and the fuel flow was high, that meant much more cold fuel flowed through the heat exchanger making the oil temp to fall. Because the temp of the oil fell, it increased its viscosity, making the oil pressure to increase.
At the first unexpected fuel imbalance reading,the assumption should probably have been that fuel was being lost as in leaked or uncommanded dumping until shown to be otherwise? Certainly became most probable once fuel level failed to rise appropriately when cross feeding began?
Exactly David. As the other Airbus pilot said it should have rectified immediately.
While watching this episode , I was continuesly thinking about that fuel crossfeed , which was wasting the reserve.
Excellent pilots no doubt.
Yes. Sending fuel to the side leaking it out. Should have left cross feed closed , let #2 run out with fuel still left for #1
Excellent idiots. They knew the fuel was dropping too fast. They followed the wrong checklists. This is what happens when you train monkeys to push buttons and fly a computer with wings. Any pilot that needs a checklist to fly an aircraft really doesn't understand how the aircraft funtions. He is just a monkey pushing buttons. Real.pilots, understand the mechanics of their aircraft, and can make proper decisions. Sitting in the left hand seat and wondering if you followed the proper checklist procedure isn't being a pilot.. I see the same thing in semi trucks today. They train people who should be working at Walmart, to drive 40 ton missiles down the hiway. These people understand nothing about, brakes, fuel systems, tires, engines...... when a problem arises, they cannot reason their way through an incident.. I don't fly anymore.
That isnt exellent pilot's job. Every ordinal pilot is expected to fly in direction of closest (or most suitable one within reach) airport if he (or she) find themself flying without fuel. Pilots are also expected to make it to the runway and land if possible. Those pilots were just lucky for running out of fuel while having airport in reach.
@@volodumurkalunyak4651 if they had run out of fuel 2 minutes sooner, they would all be dead.. that's really cutting it close.
Great video! Kept me on pins and needles! Love it when everyone lives!
Mad respect to the first officer and first officer
I'm no pilot, but just a question.... If it was determined that the situation was still deteriorating after opening the cross-feed, why not close the cross feed?
I would think that closing the cross-feed back would have preserved fuel and even after the engine with the leak flamed out, having that cross-feed closed would have allowed the remaining engine to be adequately fueled. I believe that multi-engine aircraft are designed to maintain flight with 1 engine.
Like I said, I am not a pilot or an expert. Just an observation that, to me, would have made more sense 🤷♂️
Exactly what I was thinking. They could stop the faulty fuel valve and bypass the remaining fuel to the other tank. One engine was sufficient to fly this plane. But they thought it was a computer error and killed both engines.
@@alamjim6117 There's a guage for both fuel tanks, so why not monitor both and see that one is emptying faster than the other. I don't know what a pilot thinks while they're doing their jobs. I don't think it's easy to fly a plane of that size, that's why they go through so much training.
U already know the answer before u ask the question. But the pilot didn’t know what happen that time, they could only make decisions according to the flight manual, their judgment and experience. In the case the pilots did follow the flight manual but could not see any fuel leaking due to the darkness. Aircraft is so complicated, sensor problem, computer problem is normal, pilots could not do the test during flight. All rely on pilots judgment and experience. In that situation it’s hard to make right decision.
bro exactly what I was thinking. The crossfeed made them lose both fuel tanks, instead of just the right leaking one. But then again we know stuff that the pilots didn't know that night.
"Please rate your experience flying with us:" Never before have I had such a rough landing. But happy to still be here - five stars for the Captain and Crew.
I love it when everyone survives !
Even if the captain had immediately recognized and trusted that a fuel leak was occurring, it would still be unlikely that they had enough time and fuel to divert to a closer airport. He did take the time to try and investigate, he tried to use other means to verify a fuel leak rather than a computer error, so I won't say he was completely incompetent in that matter. You can't always trust that the computers are correct. In the end he reacted well and saved all those people, a lesser experienced pilot may not have been able to save them at all. I think he deserves to be recognized for his skill and heroics.
Both pilots are certified heros
God bless them
😊👍🙏🇮🇳
This reinforces that time-tested maxim, "As always, it's better to have gas than to have a gas problem." Cheers!
It might well have been a fortunate occurrence that they blew eight tires, seems grinding down the runway on the rims would slow the plane down much faster than if all eight tires has stayed free rolling. Just throwing it out as a non-pilot, but once you knew you had both an engine problem AND a fuel leak in the right wing seems that would have been the time to close the cross feed and save remaining fuel in the left tank - instead leaving the cross feed open just let all the fuel tanks empty out the right wing leaving severely limited options.
Yes the tyres blowing helped the plane stop thank god
They needed the #2 engine to fly. Captain would have made better decision if he didn't blame the computers.
Knowing that cliff was there, I would have seriously considered leaving the landing gear up and landing on the engines. There was no fuel to catch fire which is the deadliest part of crash landings.
@@almorris171 Absolutely zero control once the plane has landed on the engines. Lowering the gear (while still in the air) provides a minor amount of drag, but I still believe that not lowering it until the last moment was the best choice, and landing on the gear is ultimately better than landing on the engines.
The tyres are not free wheeling. Ram air turbine does provide enough power for basic control. It's akin to driving a car, but without power steering, and losing brake booster after a few use.
3mm = 0.11811 of an inch.
The tolerances are seemingly insignificant, but they exist and should be followed because they are not insignificant.
So happy these people all survived.
This is where the metric system really has an advantage. Some small fraction of an inch doesn't sound like much, but I know how big a mm is, so a 3mm difference is quite a lot - most of the screws I work with are around that size...
Thank you for the excellent re-creation of the events.
"If you can walk away from a landing, it’s a good landing." - Chuck Yeager
BTW, the airplane involved (registration: C-GITS) was repaired and returned to service.
My favorite captain since started watching MayDay
Fr
"You have to realize there was a small mistake made." No. There was a HUGE mistake made. A mistake that happens all too often--putting profit before safety. And by doing so, you damn near ended the lives of over 300 people. That's not a small mistake. That's a COMPLETE f'up.
feeding the leaking tank was a mistake...but I believed they recovered by bringing down plane safely....thus saving lives......
Totally incorrect movie. This is NOT Air Alaska Nor about a Tail Failure. It's "Running out of Fuel", Air Tran-Sat from Canada to Spain! They landed safely in the Azores, tho they had run out of fuel due to a leak and glided in.
Yes but the flight was going to Portugal, not Spain. And the correct spelling is Air Transat.
45:52 They did in fact NOT follow Airbus procedures. It clearly says "CAUTION: Do not apply this procedure if fuel leak is suspected."
It seems they clearly had the runway made (in reach), but were fighting to reduce speed. I don't understand why he was so reluctant to drop the gears. The gears were the one thing he had left that would create drag and reduce speed, right?
The narrator is dramatizing lol, don't take every word literally.
The problem is that without power, whatever energy (speed x altitude) you lose, you *cannot* get it back. I can totally understand why he would have been so wary of lowering gear too early.
Probably because once that energy is lost you can't get it back
He was conserving the only thing he had left: speed and altitude.
Better to err on the safe side and make sure you reach the runway before worrying about your speed. If you don’t reach the runway, speed is irrelevant.
Without power, you can drop the gear, but you can't pull them back up. If you lower them too early, and find you need to raise them to reduce drag, you're out of luck and looking for the best place to crash land.
Theres a bigger issue than the mechanics making a mistake. The mechanic told his higher ups that this wasnt safe to put these parts on, but he was told to do it if he wanted to keep his job. So this company was not fined enough in my opinion. The media blamed the mechanics but it was the higher ups in the company that forced the mechanics to put the wrong parts on. They wanted the plane back in service.
In 1976 my coworker and I both worked for Wien Air Alaska we decided to take out one week of leave in Hawaii. Due to an airline strike we were lucky to get non rev seats on an Alaska Airlines 727 that hit every stop on the way to Seattle. The stewardess had been on the Alaska 727 that went off the runway in Ketchikan that spring with one fatality. It was her first flight since that day. I ordered a black Russian drink and because she was so nervous flying again that she asked for a sip. After that I ordered two drinks at a time and would give her one of them. It sure helped her through a very rough day. We transfered in Seattle on a Hawaii flight and made it for the Molokai rodeo. My friend went home early so I went to Honolulu and stayed at the Waikiki Sheraton. I tried u successfully to surf and barely made it to the beach due to an outbound tide. A humongous Hawaiian stood over my exhausted body, looked down and asked "want surfing lessons Haole?" Needless to say I had a few drinks and went to my room.About to lie down for a rest a giant translucent green spider shot across the wall. After chasing it for five minutes I finally killed it. I took it out on my 17th floor lanai as ND dropped it.I fell slowly spinning and landed on the table between a young couple. I laughed and laid down to rest.
awesome
The biggest crime in this whole thing was the cooperation being fined $250,000! ARE YOU KIDDING ME A QUATER MILLION DOLLARS WHAT A JOKE
Absolutely mind-boggling decision to engage the crossfeed. I simply could not believe it when the captain said "The last fuel check was 15 minutes ago and it was fine...so it's not a leak." My jaw dropped. That was the exact opposite of what conclusion that observation led me to. Sure, perhaps engine 2 was over-consuming or the fuel level sensors on the right side were faulty, but that's a large risk to take out in the middle of the Atlantic.
Why would crew and flight investigators decline to be interviewed, very odd? Usually they oblige.
As an A&P Certificated Mechanic, the first thing you do when installing a different part than called for is cross check part numbers to insure that the part going on is compatible with the component it is being installed on. Then install if correct using AMM only! If they did and did not skip any steps then Airbus is to blame. Not maintenance.
They should've held the lines apart with zip ties, washers and clothes hanger wire. I've seen them pop up in a scissor lift and slap color matching duct tape on the wing right before we take off. If they can do that then anything goes.
@@jamesrogers4674 Sorry, u don’t know how aircraft maintenance works. that’s not duct tape, that’s speed tape. It is allowed for temporary repairs according to the maintenance manual. So shut up.
@@FRED-dq8jf you don't have many friends do you Karen?
@@jamesrogers4674 I just tell you the truth. If you don’t how aircraft maintenance works keep quiet.
@@FRED-dq8jf everyone in these threads know how aircraft maintenance works. You need to lighten up and live a little.
To be fair though, the Ethiopian Airlines flight was hijacked and their left wing and engine struck the water first. Im sure it wouldn't be too much better with both the fuselage and engines hitting the water at the same time, but some improvement would be better than nothing in a life or death situation.
Oh, the passengers screaming would make things so much worse lol. I bet others wanted to knock out the screamers.
i would
This one actually made me tear up.
Hey United Airlines.... are you paying attention? Scenarios like this are EXACTLY why you shouldn't hire pilots based on DEI! These guys knew what they were doing based on experience, not skin color or gender.
BUT it WAS the fault of either both the captain and the copilot or the fault of the captain after the copilot brought to his attention that the fuel tank # 1 was losing fuel. That fuel tank was supplying fuel to that remaining functional engine on the left wing.
If they were paying close enough attention to what was really going on they would realize that if they turned off the fuel crossover valve it would have stopped the # 1 fuel tank from losing any more fuel and then it would have given them plenty of fuel to land properly when only using that one good engine on the left wing.
It was the unprofessional and sloppy pilots that almost caused that plane to crash in the water and killing most everyone on board.
Now you see why they told all the flight crew and other witnesses not to say anything to the producers and writers of this "Mayday: Air Disaster" program? And think about the amount of additional insurance settlement cash payouts there would've been to all of the survivors of that plane crash whom almost died mostly because of pilot error.
Impressed by the confidence of the pilots
If you are a pilot reading this. Don't be shy or afraid to immediately declare emergency and prioritize landing if anything is odd or not working as expected. Save lives, dont follow corporate policies, corporate just want to save costs and increase profits. Passengers want to stay alive. Do not assume problems, all that thinking can be once the plane is on the ground. 35K Ft in the air is not the time to assume or investigate problems.
Unfortunately, corporates also hold the plug... if these pilots had done something that's against the corporate's policies, they may never sit on a pilot seat again...
@@Octolicia and, the truth is, most of the time it isn't an emergency
My feeling is the maintenance staff should have been able to understand the ramifications of the pump fitting miss-match. Kudos to the flight crew!
Until something like this happens nobody knows a work force which is working day and night to keep these aircrafts flying. They are the unsung heroes called aircraft mechanics. Let's take a bow.
It's a shame that people fail to realize how many, many things have to be near perfect for air travel to exist.
A wrong bearing clearance, or two hoses abrading can mean the difference between life & death.
Props to the unsung heroes behind the scene in aviation.
Not every thing has to be near perfect. There's a list of "broken things allowed" while the aircraft can still fly. It's called "minimum equipment list".
That's the dilemma with any maintenance crew. Things performing well, "they had it easy" / "they're not doing their job". Things breakdown, also "they're not doing their job".
The oil temp was low due to the fuel absorbing the latent heat of the oil. Thus was another indicator of a fuel system issue because it was entering and contaminating the oil system.
Long runways save lives.
Was the plane able to be repaired and returned to service?
I would assume, probably just needed so.e new tires/wheels brakes and fuel/hydraulic lines to get in the air again
She was retired from service last year. Currently stored in Arizona awaiting an uncertain future. I hope she becomes a museum.
Hey this episode has a description of an Alaska Airlines incident but the episode uploaded is Air Transat. Thanks!
Alaska doesn’t fly A330s and doesn’t fly across the Atlantic.
More likely the first officer would go back with flashlight not tell a flight attendant to do it. On a DC-10 I once returned to Dallas after an engine quit - FO came back to where I was sitting looked out at the engine and joked “yep it’s still there” - this was not long after the Chicago engine loss disaster.
which airline were you flying?
American - but when I said not long after might have been a couple or few years
The flight attendant are also well trained
the DC-10 has a flight engineer, who could continue troubling shooting with the captain. The A300 is a two flight deck crew. The FO would've been busy troubleshooting to go look themselves.
Engine 2 to idle, Descend to FL 29, declare engine emergency, fuel emergency. Engine 2 off, crossfeed remaining fuel in number 2 to number 1 tank. Crossfeed off. Recalculate fuel and range for single engine operation. Divert Y/N. Prepare single engine landing checklist. Stabilize the aircraft for single engine approach and landing.
Is this a usable checklist? Please advise?
Very good job fellows!! Congratulations.
Never having flown an aircraft, but having stayed at a Holiday Inn Express, let me say that I would not have fed that fuel to the leaking tank.
Why not close feed valve & fly on one engine? I guess they couldnt think of it at the time.
The description does not match the episode and the title seems to combine two different events as well. Just wanted to comment this here hoping it will get fixed. I am hooked on watching these!
yea, because two pilots that landed their plane safely against tall odds, we have to make sure they didn't do anything wrong. And if they did, they have to be punished.
@R A What part of my sarcastic comment makes you think that I think they did something wrong?
I'm being sarcastic here because rather than being hailed as the heroes they are, they were questioned as if they had done something wrong.
@@erictaylor5462 It's a 'Blame Game'...
@@Genevieve111 exactly
well i mean, they did dump several tons of fuel blaming it on a computer glitch.
An amazing cockpit crew.
It is disheartening that Airbus blames the pilot but the actual fact they have not " Thought off" this eventuality that the fuel supply hose leak. It should be stated clearly on the check sheet what pilot should do. The CPU diagnostic should also check for abnormal usage of fuel that might point to a ruptured hose or a leaking fuel tank.
The blame should not be the pilot but Airbus fault detection is lacking. Who knows if any part of the fuel hose can rupture? It is a long length of line and further the fuel tank can leak also.
At 14:40 did he say torch, last thing I would want around fuel!! 😂😂 I know 😊
Highest regard for Captain Piche! What a pilot. What a man!
he is incompetent
This is scary. My son and I were on our way to El Paso Texas from Sacramento. It was in the middle of the summer with a full airplane. We had to sit on the tarmac for nearly 3 hours. Apparently there was a computer problem which was giving a false reading on the fuel gauges. I recall the captain was very angry with the whole situation. He told the mechanics, or someone that he had to turn the air conditioning on for a little while, it was over 110 degrees with a full plane of warm bodies. It was so hot.
We finally took off, but had to make an emergency landing at an air force base in New Mexico because we were out of fuel. Once again another very long wait, and it was hotter in New Mexico than it was in Sacramento. We were eventually able to reach our destination. People get angry when they are shoved into a sardine can and left to bake, but I would have rather that happen than experience a crash landing. The stewards and stewardess were awesome and the captain and his copilot were amazing. We flew Jet Blue.
People atleast once we all have to appreciate the camera man ****For such an outstanding visualizations of the plane at 33'000 feet*****