Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Los Cayes Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Los Cayes
Thursday, May 21, 2009 21:47 EDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
On May 21, 2009, at 2147 EDT, an Airbus A330-200, Brazilian registration PT-MVB, operated by TAM Airlines as flight 8091 from Miami International Airport, Florida, to Sao Paulo Guarulhos International Airport, Brazil, experienced a loss of primary speed and altitude information while in cruise flight at FL370. Initial reports indicated that the flight crew noted an abrupt drop in outside air temperature and observed St. Elmo's Fire, followed by the loss of the Air Data Reference System, disconnections of autopilot and autothrust, and loss of primary airspeed and altitude. The flight crew continued using backup instruments, and after approximately 5 minutes, primary data was restored. The airplane remained in alternate flight law and displayed a rudder travel limit flag. The crew determined they could not restore normal law and continued the flight under the appropriate procedures. The flight landed at Sao Paulo with no further incident and there were no injuries or damage.
With the concurrence of the Brazilian Centro de Investigação e Prevenção de Acidentes Aeronáuticos (CENIPA), the NTSB initiated an incident investigation into this event.
The final report for this incident was combined with and can be found under NTSB investigation number, DCA09IA064.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The final report for this incident was combined with and can be found under NTSB Investigation number, DCA09IA064.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Incident |
| Event Date | 5/21/2009 |
| Event Day of the Week | Thursday |
| Time of Event | 2147 |
| Event Time Zone | Eastern Daylight Time |
| Event City | Los Cayes |
| Event State | -- |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | -- |
| Event Date Year | 2009 |
| Event Date Month | 5 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | -- |
| Event Location Longitude | -- |
| Event Location Airport | Los Cayes |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | -- |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | Off Airport/Airstrip |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | 60 |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | -- |
| Airport Elevation | 0 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | -- |
| Investigator's weather source | Unknown |
| Time of the weather observation | |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | -- |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | -- |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | -- |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | -- |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | -- |
| Lighting Conditions | Night/Dark |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | -- |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | -- |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | -- |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | -- |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | -- |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | -- |
| Variable Wind Indicator | -- |
| Wind Speed (knots) | -- |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | -- |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | -- |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | None |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | -- |
| Injury Total Fatal | -- |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | 176 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | -- |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | -- |
| NTSB Notification Source | CENIPA |
| NTSB Notification Date | -- |
| NTSB Notification Time | -- |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jul 18 2011 2:51PM |
| User who most recently changed record | schd |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | PT-MVB |
| NTSB Number | DCA09IA055 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 129: Foreign |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | IFR |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | Yes |
| Damage | None |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | AIRBUS |
| Aircraft Model | A330 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | 200 |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 238 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | -- |
| Aircraft Category | Airplane |
| Aircraft Registration Class | -- |
| Aircraft is a homebuilt? | No |
| Flight Crew Seats | -- |
| Cabin Crew Seats | -- |
| Passenger Seats | -- |
| Total number of seats on the aircraft | -- |
| Number of Engines | 2 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Retractable |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | -- |
| Date of Last Inspection | -- |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | -- |
| Airframe Hours | -- |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | Unknown |
| Aircraft Owner Name | TAM |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | -- |
| Aircraft Owner State | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Country | BR |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | -- |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| Operator Name | TAM |
| Operator Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Street Address | -- |
| Operator City | Sao Paulo |
| Operator State | -- |
| Operator Country | BR |
| Operator Zip code | -- |
| Operator Code | -- |
| Owner has at least one certificate | Yes - certificate holder |
| Other Operator of large aircraft? | No |
| Certified for Part 133 or 137 Operation | -- |
| Operator Certificate Number | -- |
| Indicates whether an air carrier operation was scheduled or not | Scheduled |
| Indicates Domestic or International Flight | International |
| Operator carrying Pax/Cargo/Mail | Passenger Only |
| Type of Flying (Per_Bus / Primary) | -- |
| Second Pilot on Board | Yes |
| Departure Point Same as Event | Yes |
| Departure Airport Code | KMIA |
| Departure City | Miami |
| Departure State | FL |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 21 |
| Departure Time Zone | UTC |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | SGRU |
| Destination City | Sao Paulo |
| Destination State | -- |
| Destination Country | BR |
| Specific Phase of Flight | -- |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Apr 14 2011 10:58AM |
| User who most recently changed record | engb |
| Since inspection or accident | -- |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | N/A |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |