Air Canada Flight 143: An Avoidable Accident
Jacob P. Smith
BSA1205
Monday, 25 March, 2013
On July 23, 1983, Air Canada flight 143 departed from Montreal, bound for Edmonton via Ottawa, but never made it. The Boeing 767 involved, was one of the newest airliners to have an Electronic Flight Instrument System on board, which controlled many systems on the plane. This system also replaced many of the jobs formerly done by the flight engineer, including the calculation of fuel required for the flight. The aircraft and crew flew with no problems from Montreal to Ottawa. At Ottawa, the plane was loaded with 61 passengers plus 8 crew and was refueled for the flight to Edmonton. This is when a critical mistake was made. When refueling the airplane, the improper amount of fuel was loaded on board. At the time, this was the only plane in the Air Canada fleet using the metric system. It showed readings in litres and kilograms, instead of imperial gallons and pounds, to calculate the fuel required for the flight. This meant that the person who fueled the aircraft would have to convert from litres to kilograms instead of the normal gallons to pounds, to correctly load the fuel for the flight. When the plane landed in Ottawa it had approximately 7,682 liters of fuel remaining. The estimated fuel required for the whole flight was 22,300 Kilograms. The mechanic that fueled the plane needed to work out how many litres made up 22,300 kg. This result would allow him to subtract the remaining fuel, so he could add the appropriate amount of fuel in litres, to get the plane to Edmonton. Unfortunately, these calculations were made incorrectly and the plane left Ottawa about 10,000 kg short of the required amount. As a pound is roughly half a kilogram, it is likely that the technician miscalculated and loaded about half of the required fuel.
When the plane left Ottawa at 19:00 local, it climbed to 41,000 feet. The first hour of flight was straightforward. Just after 20:00 local, Captain Pearson and First Officer
BSA1205
Monday, 25 March, 2013
On July 23, 1983, Air Canada flight 143 departed from Montreal, bound for Edmonton via Ottawa, but never made it. The Boeing 767 involved, was one of the newest airliners to have an Electronic Flight Instrument System on board, which controlled many systems on the plane. This system also replaced many of the jobs formerly done by the flight engineer, including the calculation of fuel required for the flight. The aircraft and crew flew with no problems from Montreal to Ottawa. At Ottawa, the plane was loaded with 61 passengers plus 8 crew and was refueled for the flight to Edmonton. This is when a critical mistake was made. When refueling the airplane, the improper amount of fuel was loaded on board. At the time, this was the only plane in the Air Canada fleet using the metric system. It showed readings in litres and kilograms, instead of imperial gallons and pounds, to calculate the fuel required for the flight. This meant that the person who fueled the aircraft would have to convert from litres to kilograms instead of the normal gallons to pounds, to correctly load the fuel for the flight. When the plane landed in Ottawa it had approximately 7,682 liters of fuel remaining. The estimated fuel required for the whole flight was 22,300 Kilograms. The mechanic that fueled the plane needed to work out how many litres made up 22,300 kg. This result would allow him to subtract the remaining fuel, so he could add the appropriate amount of fuel in litres, to get the plane to Edmonton. Unfortunately, these calculations were made incorrectly and the plane left Ottawa about 10,000 kg short of the required amount. As a pound is roughly half a kilogram, it is likely that the technician miscalculated and loaded about half of the required fuel.
When the plane left Ottawa at 19:00 local, it climbed to 41,000 feet. The first hour of flight was straightforward. Just after 20:00 local, Captain Pearson and First Officer