List of accidents and incidents involving the Airbus A330

The Airbus A330 had been involved in 13 major aviation occurrences,[1] including six confirmed hull-loss accidents[2] and two hijackings, for a total of 338 fatalities.[3]

Swiss International Air Lines Airbus A330-200 powered by PW4168

History

  • On 30 June 1994, Airbus Industrie Flight 129, an Airbus A330-321 crashed at the Toulouse-Blagnac Airport while undergoing a test flight to certify its takeoff capability with a single engine failure, killing 7 people on board with no survivors.[4] Airbus subsequently advised A330 operators to disconnect the autopilot and limit pitch attitude in the event of an engine failure at low speed.[5][6]
  • On 25 May 2000, a Philippine Airlines Airbus A330-301 and operating Flight 812 was hijacked near Antipolo, Rizal, Philippines. The hijacker was killed after jumping out of the aircraft, while the other 277 passengers and all 13 crew aboard survived.[7]
  • On 13 October 2000, Sabena Flight 689, an A330 was hijacked and ended with no casualties when Spanish police took control of the aircraft.[8]
  • On 24 July 2001, two unoccupied SriLankan Airlines A330s were destroyed amid an attack on Bandaranaike International Airport, in Colombo, Sri Lanka, by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.[9][10]
  • On 24 August 2001, Air Transat Flight 236, an A330-200, developed a fuel leak over the Atlantic Ocean due to an incorrectly installed hydraulic part and was forced to glide for over 15 minutes to an emergency landing in the Azores. 18 occupants (16 passengers and two crew members) suffered injuries during the evacuation of the aircraft, with two of them suffering serious injuries. [11]
  • On 7 October 2008, Qantas Flight 72, an A330-300, suffered a rapid loss of altitude in two sudden uncommanded pitch-down manoeuvres while 150 km (81 nmi) from the Learmonth air base in northern Western Australia. After declaring an emergency, the crew landed the aircraft safely at RAAF Base Learmonth. It was later determined that the incident, which caused 119 injuries, 14 of them serious, was the result of a design flaw of the plane's Air Data Inertial Reference Unit and a limitation of the aircraft's flight computer software.[12]
  • On 1 June 2009, Air France Flight 447, an A330-200 en route from Rio de Janeiro to Paris with 228 people on board, crashed in the Atlantic Ocean 640–800 kilometres (350–430 nmi) northeast of the islands of Fernando de Noronha,[13] with no survivors. Malfunctioning pitot tubes provided an early focus for the investigation,[14] as the aircraft involved had Thales-built "–AA" models known to record faulty airspeed data during icing conditions.[15] In July 2009, Airbus advised A330 and A340 operators to replace Thales pitots with equivalents manufactured by Goodrich.[15] Investigators later determined that the inadequate response of the pilots to both a loss of airspeed data and subsequent autopilot disengagement resulted in Flight 447 entering into an aerodynamic stall.[16]
  • On 25 December 2009, passengers and crew subdued a man who attempted to detonate explosives in his underwear on an A330-300 operating Northwest Airlines Flight 253.[17][18]
  • On 12 May 2010, Afriqiyah Airways Flight 771, an A330-200, crashed on approach to Tripoli International Airport, Libya, on a flight from OR Tambo International Airport, Johannesburg, South Africa. Of the 104 people on board, all perished but one nine-year-old Dutch boy.[19] The cause of the crash was pilot error. Crew resource management was insufficient, sensory illusions, and the first officer's inputs to the aircraft side stick were a contributing factor in the crash. Fatigue was also named as a possible contributing factor in the accident.
  • On 3 March 2015, Turkish Airlines Flight 726 departed the runway on landing at Tribhuvan International Airport, Kathmandu, Nepal. The Airbus A330-300 operating the flight, TC-JOC, was severely damaged when its nose gear collapsed, causing damage to the fuselage and both wings. There were 224 passengers and 11 crew members on board; one passenger received minor injuries during the evacuation. The aircraft was written off.[20] TC-JOC was preserved as Aircraft Museum Kathmandu in November 2017.
  • On 27 August 2019, an Air China A330-300 at Beijing Capital International Airport caught fire while at the gate. The passengers and crew were safely evacuated. The airplane was likely damaged beyond repair.[21]

References

  1. "Airbus A330 incidents". Aviation-Safety.net. 19 February 2012. Retrieved 22 February 2012.
  2. [htfety.net/database/dblist.php?field=typecode&var=023%&cat=%1&sorteer=datekey&page=1 "Airbus A330 hull-losses"] Check |url= value (help). Aviation-Safety.net. 19 February 2012. Retrieved 22 February 2012.
  3. "Airbus A330 Accident Statistics". Aviation-Safety.net. 19 February 2012. Retrieved 22 February 2012.
  4. Norris & Wagner 2001, pp. 86–87.
  5. Learmount 1994, p. 4.
  6. "Aircraft accident Airbus A330-322 9M-MKB Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KUL)". Aviation-Safety.net. Retrieved 19 February 2012.
  7. "Philippines hijacker bails out". BBC News. 25 May 2000. Retrieved 25 November 2010.
  8. "2000 hijacking at the Aviation Safety Network". Aviation-Safety.net. Retrieved 19 February 2012.
  9. Fullbrook 2001, p. 10.
  10. "ASN Aircraft accident description Airbus A.330–243 4R-ALF – Colombo-Bandaranayake International Airport". ASN Aviation Safety Database. Flight Safety Foundation. Retrieved 3 August 2006.
  11. "Air Transat Flight 236 emergency landing". Aviation-Safety.net. Retrieved 19 February 2012.
  12. "Australian Transport Safety Bureau – final report and materials". Australian Transport Safety Bureau. 19 December 2011. Retrieved 19 February 2012.
  13. Kaminski-Morrow, David (1 June 2009). "Air France: No success in contacting missing A330". Air Transport Intelligence news. Retrieved 1 June 2009.
  14. "Bodies found from missing plane". BBC News. 6 June 2009. Retrieved 6 June 2009.
  15. Flottau, Jens (9 August 2009). "Response to Airbus Pitot Tube Incidents Under Scrutiny". Aviation Week & Space Technology. Retrieved 19 February 2012.
  16. Wise, Jeff (2011). "What Really Happened Aboard Air France 447". Popular Mechanics. Retrieved 4 January 2011.
  17. Shane, Scott and Eric Lipton (26 December 2009). "Passengers Took Plane's Survival Into Own Hands". The New York Times. Retrieved 26 December 2009.
  18. Boudette, E. Neal, Andy Pasztor, and Peter Spiegel (26 December 2009). "Bomb Attempt Made on U.S.-Bound Flight". Dow Jones & Company, Inc. Retrieved 26 December 2009.CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  19. "Plane crash in Libya 'kills more than 100 on board'". BBC News. 12 May 2010. Retrieved 12 March 2011.
  20. Hradecky, Simon (4 March 2015). "Accident: THY A333 at Kathmandu on Mar 4th 2015, runway excursion and nose gear collapse". The Aviation Herald. Retrieved 5 March 2015.
  21. "Air China Airbus A330 catches fire at Beijing Airport, China". Aviation 24

Notes

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