Air Transport

The European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) is endorsing calls for the introduction of cockpit fuel level warnings that function independently of the fuel gauges following the fatal crash of an ATR 72 turboprop near Sicily last year.

Italian safety agency ANSV recommended such a warning after its investigation into the Tuninter ATR 72 crash last August. Both engines failed due to fuel exhaustion and 16 of the 39 people on board the aircraft were killed.

Investigators discovered that the aircraft had been mistakenly fitted with an ATR 42 fuel quantity indicator, which showed that the aircraft was carrying at least 1,800kg (3,960lb) more fuel than was actually in the tanks.

“The agency agrees with the [ANSV] safety recommendation. Consequently a task has been added to the advance planning of the agency’s rulemaking programme,” says EASA.