This plane RAN OUT of FUEL in the middle of the OCEAN!!

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In the dead of the night, halfway over the Atlantic ocean, an Airbus A330 carrying 306 passengers and crew suddenly runs out of fuel. The lights go out, the oxygen masks drop, and the noise of the engines is replaced with an eerie silence. In pitch darkness, the giant aircraft begins drifting down towards the ocean below. The pilots are stunned, and begin trying to glide the aircraft as far as possible. The flight attendants prepare the passengers for an emergency ditching in the ocean - something which is likely be a death sentence for all on board.

This is a living nightmare, but incredibly - it never had to happen in the first place. Many accounts of this incident focus on its technical aspects, but that is only half of the story. The truth is that at bottom, this is a fascinating story about human psychology. It’s a story about how people make decisions under pressure, when faced with ambiguous information. This is the story of Air Transat flight 236.

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All music licensed through Epidemic Sound

Final report:

Picture: FAA, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

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00:00 Intro
01:07 Flight background
01:43 A330
02:11 Pilots
03:15 Departure from Toronto
03:41 Cruise
04:26 An unusual indication
05:42 Another strange indication - crossfeed
06:14 Diversion
07:07 A fuel leak?
09:21 The real problem
09:41 Confirmation bias
10:36 Fuel imbalance
11:50 Fuel leak procedure
12:14 Framing bias
12:56 Engine 2 flameout
13:41 Engine 1 flameout - glide
14:30 Passenger prognosis
15:05 A forced choice
15:57 Gliding the A330
18:08 Coming down
19:35 Final approach
21:18 Aftermath
21:45 Alternate scenarios
22:21 Source of the fuel leak
22:49 Final verdict
23:45 Safety improvements
24:11 Thanks!

[TheRipperxX]

The utter NERVE to do a 360 spin in total darkness and with no fuel in order to lose altitude. That’s boss stuff right there.

[sibusisombatha]

The fatal crashes always end up making headlines and revisited all the time yet the near death survival crashes always get glossed over and then forgotten. This flight should be for the history books

[jackdaniel]

I love how the official conclusion is basically, "this was an incredible feat done by very talented flight staff. Also, let's never do this again."

[APariah]

I just need to say that you are an incredible storyteller. You clearly have an aptitude for this stuff…. I’ve watched almost every aviation documentary I can get my hands on, and your work stands out amongst the best. I could only imagine if you had a Netflix budget what you could pull off! Keep it up!

[DeLEWD]

Damn imagine being a passenger after this and having to get back on a plane to go home so soon.

[michellehart]

This is why our lives are not only in the hands of the pilots but but aircraft mechanics as well!

[minttea]

I literally thought that this story would end like any other: either crash landed into the ocean, crashed into buildings, or made it into runway but exploded, because the way you're telling this story really had my heart dropped to my bosom. The timing, suspense, and tension in your story telling was Masterful! Impeccable! moreover, supported by a well made animation. No kidding, this is one of the best documentary I've ever watched, I mean, my butt was compressed to the maximum from your narration.

Really had me surprised when I look at your subscriber count, THE QUALITY LOOMS OVER THE NUMBERS WTF!

[TheStoneWhisperer]

As a Flight engineer from my Air Force days, I wouldn’t have allowed a fuel leak to go unchecked. This is a good example why large aircraft should still have a flight engineer. There are fuel systems tests and calculations that an Engineer could have performed to validate the gauges showing a fuel leak. Bravo to these stellar pilots regardless for bringing that beast down safely!

[daklakdigital]

CONGRATULATIONS! This the ONLY report on this incident that included details about Piche's early aviation career. He learned the 'S' bend technique from his South American days when he had to drop out of radar coverage when making a fast landing at an uncontrolled mini-airport to dump his cargo and then Re'appear on radar without alerting Customs or Police.

Piche's luck eventually ran out and he was caught on one of his landings.

Captain Piche retired in 2021 still with Air Transat. Air Transat should be congratulated on it's hiring policy of giving people another chance in life.

[rebeccastolberg]

Can we talk about the 90 second evacuation? Sounds like they had epic flight attendants, too.

[ernestkovach]

They need to make a movie of the pilot's past, training, and his doing S patterns, and other learned maneuvers, all of which greatly aided him in the challenge of a lifetime. Inspiring.

[philipcameron]

Fantastic flying by the pilots . What a recovery from an absolutely dire situation. A well deserved reward.

[skahler]

My favorite part about this story was their ability to recognize the psychological factors that contributed to the errors involved, and most importantly their willingness to award these two pilots and praise them for their handling of the situation in the end.

[RipCityBassWorks]

That's flat out impressive: the pilots performed the longest glide of a commercial airliner and managed to get to the airport with 13k feet.

[jmappelleniki]

Can we also appreciate a very good Crew Resource Management practice they are performing under an extremely stressful situation? The first officer definitely plays a crucial supporting role. Amazing team work!

[thiggs]

As a nervous flyer, I always love to tuck myself in and listen to greendot aviation when I'm safely on the ground.

[drankydrank]

The cabin being dead silent is surprising to me. Those flight attendants must have also been miracle workers to quell that panic.

[ChosenPlaysYT]

Jeez I literally teared up a bit in happiness when they landed and everyone survived. What an insane story.

[gaganorthoftheth]

This pilot from Canada is awesome, all his experience flying in different planes and terrains probably really paid off. Just incredible.

[jasonhoch]

Engines off while still in the air is one of the most unnerving things I’ve ever experienced. You don’t expect it to be so quiet…it seems like you’ve landed.

In 96, I was on a 747 flight to Sydney from LAX. 12 hours into the flight, I woke up, and heard nothing. I thought we’d landed. I started waking up, but then I noticed I couldn’t see anything outside. I began to get worried. After several minutes, I saw the moon reflecting on the ocean. Right about then, I heard each engine spool up, and we gained altitude.

No idea what happened, but that experience still haunts me today. Absolute silence while on a jumbo jet in the air…