In-flight fuel imbalance led to diversion and emergency landing of Canadian air carrier at Los Angeles International Airport

In-flight fuel imbalance led to diversion and emergency landing of Canadian air carrier at Los Angeles International Airport

Gatineau, Quebec, 5 July 2024 - Today, the Transportation Safety Board of Canada (TSB) released its investigation report (A21F0210) into the 2021 emergency landing of a Jazz Aviation Mitsubishi CL-600-2D24 aircraft at the Los Angeles International Airport, California, United States (U.S.).

On the evening of November 29, 2021, the aircraft departed from San Diego International Airport, U.S., heading to Vancouver International Airport, British Columbia, with four crew members and 69 passengers on board. The aircraft took off to the left of the centreline on the runway and the left main landing gear wheels contacted three runway edge lights, causing damage to the aircraft's tires and flaps, before the aircraft's trajectory was corrected towards the runway centreline. The contact went unnoticed by the flight crew as they perceived the sounds and vibrations as normal contact with the embedded runway centreline lights.

Shortly thereafter, the flight crew detected a fuel imbalance while the aircraft was climbing to cruise altitude that they were unable to correct. They shut down the right engine, declared an emergency and diverted to Los Angeles International Airport where the aircraft landed safely.

The investigation determined that the misaligned takeoff and the fuel imbalance were two unrelated events. The degraded visual conditions at night meant there were limited visual cues available to the flight crew to identify and verify the aircraft's position on the runway. When taxiing to position on the runway, the captain taxied the aircraft off the taxiway centreline in order to increase the runway distance available for takeoff. As the aircraft turned back to align with the centre of the runway, the crew mistook the left edge line as the runway's centreline. Finally, the flight crew had a perception of time pressure for takeoff due to the rapid and continuous arrivals and departures at the busy San Diego International Airport.

Because the airport was not equipped with a foreign object debris detection system, debris from the aircraft's contact with the runway edge lights was not discovered until several hours after takeoff. Undetected debris on runways poses a risk of causing damage to aircraft during critical phases of flight such as takeoff and landing.

The investigation also identified that the fuel imbalance was likely caused by the flight crew inadvertently activating the wrong fuel panel switch during the completion of take-off checklists. As a result, the fuel periodically transferred between the aircraft's wing tanks as it banked left or right. It was also determined that the guidance provided to flight crews by the operator and the manufacturer to address fuel imbalances was inconsistent and unclear, adding complexity to the situation.

Safety actions taken

In addition to conducting a study of airports in its network and making changes to its airport charts, Jazz Aviation updated the aircraft operating manual and issued a company memo informing flight crews of the threats that exist during departures from runway areas other than the threshold, and the mitigations in place to minimize these threats. The operator also revised its fuel imbalance procedures for the aircraft to contain clearer guidance for crews.

See the investigation page for more information.

The TSB is an independent agency that investigates air, marine, pipeline, and rail transportation occurrences. Its sole aim is the advancement of transportation safety. It is not the function of the Board to assign fault or determine civil or criminal liability.

For more information, contact:
Transportation Safety Board of Canada
Media Relations
Telephone: 819-360-4376
Email: [email protected]

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