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Accidents · NTSB ENG15WA019 · Preliminary: the investigation is not finished

Airbus A330 - 201 incident near Athens, Greece, Gr, December 26, 2014

On December 26, 2014, a Airbus A330 - 201, registered FGRSQ, was involved in an incident during enroute (cruise) near Athens, Greece. The NTSB record does not give the injuries.

The NTSB's probable cause their words, unchanged

The NTSB has not yet published a probable cause for this incident. Investigations usually take one to two years; this page updates when the final report is released.

Source: NTSB aviation accident database, copy made October 5, 2026. Docket and reports at the NTSB.

What the record shows

Date
December 26, 2014
Place
Athens, Greece, Greece
Type
Incident
Injuries
The NTSB record does not give the injuries.
Weather
not recorded
Aircraft
Airbus A330 - 201 201 · all A330 - 201s on the register
Registration
FGRSQ · no longer on the register · serial 501
Damage
Not recorded
Flight
Flight

The NTSB's narrative preliminary · quoted from the NTSB record

On 12/26/2014 an Airbus A330 operated by XL Airways took off from La Réunion (Indian Ocean) to Marseille (France). The information provided by the three inertial reference systems became successively unavailable, leading autopilot + auto-thrust to disconnect, and attitude and navigation information to be lost. The crew diverted to Athens (Greece) using back-up instruments and flight controls direct law and landed uneventfully in good weather conditions. The incident is being investigated by the Bureau d'Enquêtes et d'Analyses pour la sécurité de l'aviation civile (BEA). The NTSB has been appointed an Accredited Representative to assist the BEA in the investigation as the state of design of the Air Data Inertial Reference Unit (ADIRU). All inquiries concerning this accident should be directed to the BEA at: Aéroport du Bourget Zone Sud – Btiment 153 200 rue de Paris 93352 Le Bourget Cedex France Tél. : +33 1 49 92 72 00 Fax : +33 1 49 92 72 03 Website: www.bea.aero

The complete narrative as the NTSB published it. The NTSB's docket holds the report as a PDF and any photographs, statements and other documents from the investigation.

The factual record from the NTSB's investigation tables, in plain English

What happened, in order

  1. Nav system malfunction/failure during enroute (cruise) defining event

The aircraft

  • Landing gear: fixed

Weather at the time

  • Temperature: 0°F (-18°C), dew point 0°F (-18°C)

Documents from the investigation the NTSB's docket: the evidence folder behind the report

The docket, the folder of records gathered during an investigation (maintenance records, photographs, witness statements, examinations), has not been read from the NTSB for this case yet; the list appears here once it has. Open the docket at the NTSB.

Everything on this page comes from the NTSB's public records. The narrative, probable cause and findings are the NTSB's own words; the coded tables behind the report are written out in plain English, with pilots' ages, home towns and medical details left out. The documents and photographs are the NTSB's docket, shown as the NTSB released them. This site's own text never names anyone involved. A preliminary report can change; the final report usually follows one to two years later, and the page is refreshed when it does.