Air Transat Flight 961 was an

Air Transat Air Transat is a Canadian airline based in Montreal, Quebec. Founded in 1986, it is the country's third-largest airline behind Air Canada and WestJet, operating scheduled and charter flights serving 60 destinations in 25 countries. Air Transa ...

flight from

Varadero Varadero (), also referred to as ''Playa Azul'' (Blue Beach), is a resort town in the province of Matanzas Province, Matanzas, Cuba, and one of the largest resort areas in the Caribbean. Varadero Beach was rated one of the world's best beaches in ...

Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...

Quebec City Quebec City ( or ; french: Ville de Québec), officially Québec (), is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Quebec. As of July 2021, the city had a population of 549,459, and the Communauté métrop ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

on March 6, 2005. The aircraft experienced a structural failure in which the

rudder A rudder is a primary control surface used to steer a ship, boat, submarine, hovercraft, aircraft, or other vehicle that moves through a fluid medium (generally aircraft, air or watercraft, water). On an aircraft the rudder is used primarily to ...

detached in flight. The flight crew were able to regain enough control of the aircraft to return safely to Varadero. , the Airbus A310-308 is no longer in service. The investigation that followed determined that the manufacturer's inspection procedure for the composite rudder was not adequate. Inspection procedures for composite structures on airliners were changed because of this accident.

Event

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 2:48 am EST, flight 961 took off from Cuba. The flight climbed to its initial cruising altitude of and the

flight attendant A flight attendant, also known as steward/stewardess or air host/air hostess, is a member of the aircrew aboard commercial flights, many business jets and some government aircraft. Collectively called cabin crew, flight attendants are prima ...

s began the inflight service. Then, suddenly, at 3:02 am, the aircraft began a

dutch roll Dutch roll is a type of aircraft motion consisting of an out-of-phase combination of "tail-wagging" (yaw) and rocking from side to side (roll). This yaw-roll coupling is one of the basic flight dynamic modes (others include phugoid, short per ...

after a bang shuddered the aircraft violently. The plane climbed until the crew overcame the

aircraft upset Aircraft upset is a dangerous condition in aircraft operations in which the flight attitude or airspeed of an aircraft is outside the normal bounds of operation for which it is designed. This may result in the loss of control (LOC) of the aircraft ...

by descending. The crew attempted to divert to

Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport A fortification is a military construction or building designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is also used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin ''fortis'' ("strong") and ''facere'' ...

but Air Transat operations told the crew that returning to Varadero would be the more prudent option. There were no warnings on the

flightdeck The flight deck of an aircraft carrier is the surface from which its aircraft take off and land, essentially a miniature airfield at sea. On smaller naval ships which do not have aviation as a primary mission, the landing area for helicopters ...

indicating a rudder problem or a

yaw damper A yaw damper (sometimes referred to as a stability augmentation system) is a system used to reduce (or damp) the undesirable tendencies of an aircraft to oscillate in a repetitive rolling and yawing motion, a phenomenon known as the Dutch roll. ...

problem. The plane landed safely at 4:19 am. Upon parking at the gate, the crew did another walk around inspection to narrow down the cause of the accident. The inspection revealed that the entire

had broken away from the vertical stabilizer of the aircraft.

Cause

Although most of the

cockpit voice recorder A flight recorder is an electronic recording device placed in an aircraft for the purpose of facilitating the investigation of aviation accidents and incidents. The device may often be referred to as a "black box", an outdated name which has b ...

and

flight data recorder A flight recorder is an electronic recording device placed in an aircraft for the purpose of facilitating the investigation of aviation accidents and incidents. The device may often be referred to as a "black box", an outdated name which has b ...

were erased due to the long span of time in which the accident occurred, there were several findings as to the cause of the accident. The aircraft probably had a

stress fracture A stress fracture is a fatigue-induced bone fracture caused by repeated stress over time. Instead of resulting from a single severe impact, stress fractures are the result of accumulated injury from repeated submaximal loading, such as running or ...

in the tail that went unnoticed for several flights prior to the accident flight and the A310 does not have a mechanism in the tail that suspends the growth of the fracture(s). The Transportation Safety Board found that inspection program of composite rudders was inadequate. In particular, the durability of the rudder was questioned. Air Transat Flight 961 provided new insights into rudder problems on

Airbus A300 The Airbus A300 is a wide-body airliner developed and manufactured by Airbus. In September 1967, aircraft manufacturers in the United Kingdom, France, and West Germany signed a memorandum of understanding to develop a large airliner. West G ...

-600, Airbus A300-600R, and Airbus A310 aircraft.

Aftermath

The aircraft was repaired and operated until its ultimate retirement. The accident aircraft, fin number 303, is currently retired by Air Transat. The dated aircraft was replaced by the airline with the more modern and efficient Airbus A321neo. All Airbus A310 aircraft were retired from Air Transat as of March 31, 2020.

References

External links

* * {{coord missing, Cuba Flight 961 Accidents and incidents involving the Airbus A310 Aviation accidents and incidents in 2005 Aviation accidents and incidents in Cuba Airliner accidents and incidents caused by in-flight structural failure 2005 in Cuba March 2005 events in North America

Event

Cause

Aftermath

See also

References

External links