Air Transat has been fined C$250,000 ($167,000) for "maintenance infractions", the Canadian transport minister David Collenette has announced. The fine was triggered because the charter airline fitted a Rolls-Royce Trent engine with a different state of modification to an Airbus A330-200, making it non-compliant with extended range twin engine operations (ETOPS) rules.
The problem came to light after the A330 was involved in a near accident when the aircraft ran out of fuel in flight due to a fuel leak. The aircraft glided to a safe landing at Lajes air base on the Portuguese Azores (Flight International, 4-10 September).
Following last week's government decision to halve the 120min ETOPS authority for its A330s until crews had completed ETOPS refresher training, Collenette has ordered that all Transat twin-engined aircraft are restricted to flying within 90min of a usable runway.
Air Transat says that the fault occurred when its mechanics fitted a hydraulic pump to the A330's starboard engine. According to a manufacturer's service bulletin the associated hydraulic line should have been changed but was not. Portuguese investigators say the leak was caused by interference between a hydraulic pipe and a fuel line, but Air Transat says it is not certain that its work caused the fuel leak.
More detail has also emerged about the descent despite the fact that, when the engines failed, the cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder were deprived of power. At 06:26 GMT the second engine flamed out with 34,000ft (10,360m) altitude and 85nm (157km) short of the runway. At 06:39 it passed 13,000ft with 8nm to go. It landed 7min later with gear down but no flaps or slats deployed.
Source: Flight International
