Engine on AerArann aircraft shut down mid-air

ONE of two engines on an Aer Arann aircraft flying from Luton to Galway two years ago shut down in mid-flight after it ran out of fuel, in an incident which mirrored last week’s fatal crash involving a similar aircraft near Sicily.

An official report has revealed that cockpit readings indicated both fuel tanks on the Aer Arann aircraft were empty at the time of the incident.

The Aer Arann pilot told investigators that he was unsure how much fuel was left on the ATR 42-300 turboprop plane due to faulty fuel gauge readings when one of the engines failed 40 miles west of Dublin at a height of 18,000 feet.

A similar problem with fuel gauges and tanks is believed to be the likely cause of the fatal accident involving another ATR aircraft operated by a Tunisian airline which crashed into the Mediterranean Sea off Sicily last weekend.

Forty-eight passengers and three crew were on board the Aer Arann flight at the time of the incident on August 8, 2003.

The pilot was unable to divert the plane to either Dublin or Belfast, which were closed due to fog.

Passengers were notified of the problem, although the aircraft eventually landed safely on one engine at Shannon 28 minutes after the crew first became aware of the incident.

“If both fuel tanks were actually empty, the plane would have been forced to land within nine minutes,” said one aviation expert. “It could not have reached any airport and we would have been dealing with a major accident.”

A report by the Department of Transport’s Air Accident Investigation Unit showed that flight crews operating the aircraft had been aware of a persistent problem, in which the fuel gauge for the left-hand tank was frequently reading zero, for weeks before the incident. However, the problem had never been recorded in the aircraft’s technical log.

The official report said the practice of not recording this defect by Aer Arann crew was “an underlying cause” of the incident.

However, it concluded that the main cause was the fact that the captain had inadvertently filled fuel into the left-hand tank at Luton in the mistaken belief that it was actually being pumped into the right-hand tank.

AAIU investigators said the flight crew had not take the precaution of taking a manual reading of fuel tank levels with a dipstick at Luton. They claimed, “common sense, prudence and good airmanship” meant such a precaution should have been taken, in light of concern about faulty fuel gauge readings.

“If the tanks had been dipped after the Luton refuelling this serious incident would undoubtedly have been avoided,” concluded the report.