Flight International online news 11:00GMT: Italian investigators are urging ATR operators to check fuel gauges on their aircraft after discovering the Tuninter ATR 72 lost in a fatal accident off Sicily last month was fitted with a fuel-quantity indicator meant only for ATR 42s.
In response, according to Flight International's sister publication Air Transport Intelligence, Italy's civil aviation administration has suspended the authorisation of Tunisian regional carrier Tuninter to operate to its territory.
Investigation body Agenzia Nazionale per la Sicurezza del Volo says examination of the wreckage from the crashed aircraft – which ditched north of Palermo on 6 August after suffering a dual engine failure – plus the study of documentation shows an incorrect instrument had been installed.
ANSV says that the fuel-quantity indicators for the ATR 42 and 72 are physically similar and that it is possible to fit the wrong gauge to either’s instrument panel.
But differences in the internal algorithms mean that the wrong gauge would not register the correct quantity of fuel on board.
ATR 72 aircraft have a total fuel capacity of 5,000kg compared with 4,500kg for the smaller ATR 42.
Sixteen of the 39 occupants on board the Tuninter service between Bari and Djerba died as the aircraft attempted an emergency landing at Palermo.
DAVID KAMINSKI-MORROW/LONDON
Source: Flight International
