AT72, en-route, Mediterranean Sea near Palermo Italy, 2005

AT72, en-route, Mediterranean Sea near Palermo Italy, 2005

Summary

On 6 August 2005, a Tuninter ATR 72-210 was ditched near Palermo after fuel was unexpectedly exhausted en route. The aircraft broke into three sections on impact and 16 of the 39 occupants died. The Investigation found that insufficient fuel had been loaded prior to flight because the flight crew relied exclusively upon the fuel quantity gauges which had been fitted incorrectly by maintenance personnel. It was also found that the pilots had not fully followed appropriate procedures after the engine run down and that if they had, it was at least possible that a ditching could have been avoided.

Description

On 6 August 2005, an ATR 72-210 being operated by Tunis Air subsidiary Tuninter on a scheduled passenger service from Bari, Italy to Djerba, Tunisia ditched into the sea in day VMC approximately 23nm north east of Palermo Airport after a rundown of both engines in quick succession following fuel exhaustion. The aircraft broke up on impact with the water and sixteen of the occupants were killed and sixteen, including both pilots, were seriously injured. The remaining seven sustained minor injuries.

Investigation

An Investigation was carried out by the Italian Agenzia Nazionale per la Sicurezza del Volo (Agenzia Nazionale per la Sicurezza del Volo (Italy) (ANSV)). The FDR and CVR were recovered and successfully downloaded. The CVR was found to have continued recording until impact and the FDR until about a minute before it, when it recorded the aircraft altitude as 728 feet.

The full content of this page is available to registered users only.
Please Log in or Register

SKYbrary Partners:

Safety knowledge contributed by: