Air Disaster Story: Flight 236 going from Canada to Portugal ran out of fuel at an altitude of 39 thousand feet

Air Disaster Story: Robert Piche lived an extraordinary life. Became a pilot with great hard work. Got a job in a big airlines company but was then thrown out. But the plane continued flying. The only difference was that now he had started carrying drugs by plane. From one country to another. One day he was caught in this connection. Jailed. Came out after five years. Spent days in rehab. Only then did people adopt it back. After this the second innings started. Luckily I got a job as a pilot again.

Last time I was embarrassed by this work. But this time something else had to happen. Night of 24 August 2001. Robert Pisho was flying a plane at an altitude of 39 thousand feet. Just above the Atlantic Ocean it was discovered that the plane was completely out of fuel. The nearest airport was 130 kilometers away. And the lives of 306 people were now in the hands of Robert Piche. Could Pishesh land this plan? How did you run out of fuel? Let us know. (air disaster story)

Canada to Portugal Air Disaster Story

When the story begins, a plane took off from the city of Toronto, Canada. Flight number 236 (flight 236). This was an Airbus A330 aircraft. In which two powerful engines of Rolls Royce were installed. There were a total of 306 people on board the plane, including the crew and pilot. And its destination was Lisbon, the capital of Portugal. When the plane took off, there was five tons more fuel than required. Why this detail was told, we will understand later in the story.(plane crash)

So it happened that a few hours after takeoff, the plane was at an altitude of 39 thousand feet. Right over the Atlantic Ocean. Pilot Robert Piche was flying the plane. Who had a total of 16 thousand eight hundred hours of flying experience including his drugs flight. Robert had left his previous life far behind. Five years had passed since I started the second innings of life. There was never any complaint from Robert in these years. The name of the first officer of the plane was Dirk Deiger. Who had flown for 4800 hours till now. Both were experienced. The plane was proceeding smoothly on its journey.

Plane engine stalled, volcano below, what happened next?

Ate food from passengers during the journey. The sleepers went into sleep. Everything was fine inside the cockpit also. Around midnight Captain Robert noticed a strange thing. He noticed that the oil pressure in engine number 2 was showing high and the oil temperature was showing low. This should not have happened. All the instruments of the plane were working properly. When he did not understand the reason for this, he told the first officer about it. He was also confused on this matter.

Therefore, both of them decided that they should give this information to the control center. When the control center asked the reason, the pilot replied, perhaps it is a false alarm. The control center instructed them to keep an eye on the situation. The plane continued moving forward at its own speed.

Fuel leaking, pilot unknown

After some time another strange thing happened. A message appeared on the plane’s screen, which said that there was fuel imbalance. That means there is not equal amount of oil in the left and right tanks. , Fuel imbalance is not a danger in itself. But if both the engines are working equally then this should not happen. The Captain still did not understand the reason for all this.

There was no problem anywhere in the plane. Therefore, based on his experience he tried to correct the fuel imbalance. For this he connected both the tanks together. So that fuel is transferred from the left tank to the right tank and a balance is created. This was a terrible mistake. Which the pilot realized very late.

The reality was that after midnight, fuel started leaking from the right tank of the plane. Due to which the temperature and pressure in the right tank started changing. Initially, fuel was supplied to the right tank from a reserve tank located at the rear of the plane. But then that too became empty. As a result, the system started showing imbalance. The pilot and first officer had no idea about the fuel leaking.

There was no reason to doubt. Because the plane had just undergone maintenance. And its engine was changed just a week ago. Therefore, to balance the fuel, he connected both the tanks together. This was a big mistake. What should have been done here was that the pilot would have switched off the right engine.

After this the plane could complete the rest of the journey with the help of one engine. But due to connecting the two tanks, not only did the right tank become empty, the fuel in the left tank also started emptying on the way to the right one. Even after this the pilot could not find anything. Because as mentioned earlier, this plane was carrying more fuel than required. Therefore, it took some time for the fuel to be completely exhausted. Meanwhile, the pilots were assuming that there was some fault in the plane’s computer.

The truth came to light when the right engine of the plane stopped completely. The second engine also provided support for only three more minutes. After this there was darkness in the cabin of the plane. A machine weighing thousands of tons was now suspended in the air at a height of thousands of feet.

The plane had completely run out of fuel. Only one Imar Jensi battery and one air turbine kept some essential systems functioning. People were wearing life jackets in the cabin.

Because the plane could hit the sea at any time. Death was certain if one fell from such a height. But the plane’s pilot Robert Piche did not lose courage. He asked for information about the nearest air port from the nearest air traffic control centre. The nearest was a military air port on an island called Lajes, which was still 130 kilometers away.

Pilot Robert Piche turned the plane towards Lages.

His mind was doing a calculation. At the time of engine shutdown, the plane was flying at an altitude of 39 thousand feet. After the engine stopped, it started falling at a speed of two thousand feet per minute. Although his forward speed was still intact.

He was moving forward at a speed of 6 kilometers per minute. In such a situation, the pilot thought that if an attempt was made to land the plane by gliding it, there could be a chance. However, during this time he had to control the plane with the help of minimum equipment. The brakes were also working in name only. And no other equipment to assist in landing was operational.

How did the plane land?

Pilot Robert turned the plane towards Lages. Pilot Robert’s calculations proved correct. At 13 thousand feet he could see the runway, which was now only 16 kilometers away. However, then the pilot realized that another big problem was ahead of him. If the plane had continued to move at this speed, it would have gone beyond the runway.

It was necessary to reduce his height further. Which was impossible to do without controls. In such a situation, pilot Robert came up with a trick. He turned the plane and made a 360 degree revolution. During this time the plane descended further. (aviation disaster)

The plane was floating in the air for the last 19 minutes.

Now it was the turn to land it. The pilot knew he had only one chance. He tried to drag the plane and fly it sideways. Exactly in the shape of the English letter S. Finally, seeing the opportunity, he landed the plane on the runway. The plane bounced like a ball after hitting the runway and then came down.

Its wheels burst due to speed. And there was a crack in the body. The plane stopped after crossing three-fourths of the distance on the runway. Immediately the rescue workers reached the plane. People were taken out. 16 people suffered minor injuries but the good thing was that everyone was safe.

This incident made Captain Robert Piche a hero overnight.

Although according to himself he was not a hero. Was just doing his work. Ultimately this plane crash was investigated. It was found that while changing the engine of the plane, wrong fuel pipe was installed in it, due to which fuel started leaking in mid-flight. The pilot and co-pilot were also at fault.

Because if they had followed the correct procedure then all the fuel of the plane would not have been exhausted. Captain Robert Piche, however, was not punished for this mistake. It is believed that he followed the same procedure which is taught to all pilots.

Robert Piche continued flying planes even after this incident. In the year 2017, he said goodbye to his profession. Talking about 2023, Robert Piche runs a charitable organization. Whose objective is to help people addicted to drugs.