Air Transat Flight 961

Air Transat Flight 961

Occurrence
Date	March 6, 2005
Summary	Rudder Failure in flight, stress fracture
Site	Juan Gualberto Gomez Airport, Cuba
Aircraft type	Airbus A310-308
Operator	Air Transat
Registration	C-GPAT
Flight origin	Juan Gualberto Gomez Airport, Varadero,Cuba
Destination	Jean Lesage Airport , Quebec, Canada
Passengers	262
Crew	9
Fatalities	0
Injuries	0
Survivors	271 (all)

The Aircraft

Air Transat Flight 961 was an Airbus A310-308 that was operating a flight from Varadero, Cuba to Quebec City on March 6, 2005. The Airbus A310-300 operating the flight wore the registration C-GPAT and first flew on September 24, 1991. The airplane had previously flown with Emirates before joining the rapidly growing fleet of Canadian tour operator Air Transat in 2001.

The Incident

Flight 961 was a routine scheduled commercial flight carrying 262 passengers and 9 crew from Varadero, Cuba to Quebec City on March 6, 2005. At 2:48am EST, flight 961 powered into the skies abouve Cuba. The flight climbed to it's initial cruising altitude of 35,000 feet and the flight attendants began the inflight service. All was normal for the unsuspecting passengers and crew of flight 961. Then, suddenly, at 3:02am, the aircraft began a dutch roll after a bang shuddered the aircraft violently. The plane climbed until the crew overcame the dutch roll by descending. The aircraft was then to divert to Fort Lauderdale International Airport but Air Transat operations told the crew that returning to Varadero would be the more prudent option. There were no warnings on the flightdeck indicating a rudder problem or a yaw damper problem. The plane landed safely at 4:19am. Upon parking at the gate, the crew did another walk around inspection to narrow down the cause of the incident. The inspection revealed that the entire rudder had broken away from the tail of the aircraft.

Cause

Although most of the Cockpit Voice Recorder and Flight Data Recorder were mostly erased due to the long span of time the incident occured in, there were several findings as to the cause of the incident. The aircraft probably had a stress fracture in the tail that went unnoticed for several flights prior to the incident flight and the A310 does not have a mechanism in the tail that suspends the growth of the fracture(s).

Composite Rudder Controversy

See also: American Airlines Flight 587

After the crash of American 587, the use of composite rudders was questioned. The durability of it was questioned. Air Transat flight 961 provided new insights into rudder problems on Airbus A300-600, Airbus A300-600R, and Airbus A310 aircraft. The findings of the problems on flight 961 are still being investigated and applied to similar incidents and accidents.

Aftermath

The crew did an outstanding job controlling the aircraft through and after the dutch roll. The aircraft, fin 303, is still flying with Air Transat today.

Sources

• http://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=20050306-0
• http://www.airdisaster.com/photos/c-gpat/photo.shtml
• http://www.jetphotos.net/census/aircraft.php?reg=C-GPAT&msn=597
• Chart Table help from Air Transat Flight 236 article.