All Engines Failure

A dual engine failure turns the A330 into a 230-tonne glider — but a glider designed in advance for this moment: the ram air turbine deploys automatically (the not-running ripple of article 06), the emergency generator connects automatically, and the ECAM procedure exists chiefly to make sure those two automatics happened. Then it hands you to the QRH's two storylines: relight possible (hold 270 kt / M 0.82 for the windmill, gliding 2 NM per 1 000 ft) or relight impossible (green dot speed, gliding 3 NM per 1 000 ft). The difference between those two tables — a third of your gliding range — is the price paid for feeding the relight. That is the most important account in this article.

1. The ECAM section: securing two automatics

"The ENG ALL ENGINES FAILURE ECAM alert inhibits the ELEC EMER CONFIG ECAM alert, and provides the flight crew with an associated procedure to immediately apply in the case of a failure of all engines. The purpose … is to secure both the automatic extension of the RAT and the automatic connection of the emergency generator. Then … the flight crew must apply the ALL ENGINES FAILURE QRH procedure. — LAND ASAP / RAT MAN ON / EMER ELEC PWR (IF NOT AUTOMATICALLY COUPLED) MAN ON / OPT RELIGHT SPD 270/0.82 — In the case of a speed indication failure due to volcanic ash, the pitch altitude for optimum relight is provided in the QRH procedure. — APU (BELOW FL 250) …"

Why inhibit the electrical-emergency alert (synthesis): a dual engine failure necessarily brings the emergency electrical configuration — popping a second alert would drag you down an electrical side-quest. The ECAM folds the electrics into the engine main line: the two MAN ON items are manual backstops for automatics already triggered — the two not-running discretes of article 06 have already fired the chain; your press is the insurance.

2. The QRH master script

The skeleton: confirm RAT and emergency power → 270 kt / M 0.82 → the pitch-attitude table (the backup for failed speed indication: gross weight ≤ 150 t → −1.5°, 170 t → −0.5°, 190 t → 0°, 210 t → +0.5°, 230 t → +1.5°, 250 t → +2.0° — the heavier, the higher the nose) → APU start below FL 250 → levers idle → the 270 kt gliding table: 2 NM per 1 000 ft (FL 200 → 40 NM / FL 300 → 60 / FL 400 → 80) → divert, VHF 1, notifications, passenger signs, crew oxygen above FL 100 → check the fuel quantity — eliminating out of fuel first, the one cause not worth a relight attempt (the same restart-decision logic as the fuel chapter's feed-pipe rupture) → then choose the line.

The pitch table's design (synthesis): volcanic ash cakes the pitot probes — airspeed gone — but the attitude indicator survives. A gross-weight-matched pitch angle approximates 270/.82; a heavier aircraft needs more angle of attack, so the pitch climbs with weight, −1.5° to +2.0°.

3. Relight possible: the two-stage line

"Approaching or below FL 300: Windmill Relight — ALL ENG MASTERS OFF 30 S THEN ON / ENGs RELIGHT TRY REGULARLY — Windmill relight attempts can be repeated until successful, or until the APU bleed is available. … If APU available and windmill relight unsuccessful: Starter Assisted Relight Below FL 200 — ALL ENG MASTERS OFF / OPTIMUM SPEED: GREEN DOT / WING ANTI ICE OFF / APU BLEED ON / ENG MASTER (ONE AT A TIME) ON — Between each attempt to relight the same engine, wait at least 30 s with the associated ENG MASTER lever set to OFF."

The two-stage logic, every link from an earlier article (synthesis): FL 300 is the relight envelope's guaranteed ceiling (article 26) — only there does trying start to pay. Through the windmill stage, 270/.82 keeps feeding wind to the spools. FL 200 with APU bleed available is the changeover to starter-assisted: the 270 kt wind is no longer needed, so speed retreats to green dot — and the gliding account improves immediately; the starter's air comes from the APU (of article 12's three air sources, the only one left in this emergency); engines one at a time (the everywhere-philosophy of articles 23/29/31, at its extreme), 30 seconds OFF between attempts on the same engine (the drain, article 23).

Below 10 000 ft AGL: cabin preparation, RAM AIR ON, ELT — and keep trying regularly, with one warning attached: USE RUDDER WITH CARE. What it guards against (synthesis): in low-altitude repeated attempts, one engine suddenly catching — an instant thrust asymmetry at low speed is an instant heading lurch. Gentle feet. The endings fork out of this chapter: ditching or forced landing, per their own procedures.

4. Relight impossible: the pure glide

"OPTIMUM SPEED: GREEN DOT — GLIDING DISTANCE: 3 NM / 1000 FT (300 FT/NM) NO WIND — FL 200→60 NM / FL 300→90 / FL 400→120."

The two gliding tables side by side — this article's centrepiece: 270 kt buys 2 NM per 1 000 ft; green dot buys 3. Feeding wind to the relight costs one third of the gliding range — from FL 400, 80 NM against 120, a 40-mile difference. The green-dot table itself (all-engines-out version) is double-entry by gross weight and level: 120 t at or below FL 200 → 169 kt … 240 t at FL 400 → 261 kt — heavier and higher mean faster.

5. Scenario walk-throughs

FL 380, both engines quit. Confirm RAT and emergency power, set 270/.82, run the mental glide (~76 NM in hand), APU is still too high (below FL 250), check fuel, choose the line.

FL 280, third windmill round fails, APU stable. The moment FL 200 arrives, change over: speed back to green dot (the glide improves on the spot), APU BLEED ON, engine 1 first.

Volcanic ash case. Trust no airspeed: at 210 t, fly +0.5° — and keep distrusting speed trends until an engine is actually running.

9 000 ft, still nothing. Cabin prepared, RAM AIR, ELT — every further attempt flown with gentle rudder, while the other hand holds the forced-landing ending ready.

Self-test

[!note]- Q1. Why does the ECAM section inhibit the electrical-emergency alert? A dual failure necessarily brings the emergency electrical configuration — the ECAM folds the manual backstops for the RAT and emergency generator into the engine main line, keeping you off the electrical side-quest.

[!note]- Q2. What do 270/.82 and green dot each buy, and at what cost difference? 270 buys wind for the windmill relight (2 NM/1 000 ft); green dot buys maximum glide (3 NM/1 000 ft). The relight wind costs a third of the range.

[!note]- Q3. The three conditions for changing from windmill to starter-assisted? Below FL 200 + APU bleed available + windmill unsuccessful — then speed to green dot, anti-ice off to free the air, APU BLEED ON, MASTERs one at a time with 30 s OFF between attempts on the same engine.

[!note]- Q4. Ash has taken the airspeed — what do you fly for relight speed? The pitch table (150 t → −1.5° … 250 t → +2.0°, nose rising with weight) — attitude approximating 270/.82.

[!note]- Q5. What is "USE RUDDER WITH CARE" guarding against? One engine catching suddenly during low-altitude attempts — an instantaneous thrust asymmetry at low speed means a heading lurch. Gentle, measured rudder.

Key takeaways

References

• FCOM PRO (engine abnormal procedures: ALL ENGINES FAILURE ECAM section — the inhibition, the two-automatics purpose, 270/.82, the ash note, APU below FL 250) — quoted verbatim.
• QRH (all engines failure: master script; relight-possible line; relight-impossible line) — the manual confirmations, pitch table, both gliding tables, the two-stage relight, the below-10 000 ft items, USE RUDDER WITH CARE. Key table values transcribed; full tables per the QRH.
• Integrative synthesis (marked in text): the side-quest reading of the inhibition; the pitch-table design; the two-stage logic chain; the one-third-range account; the sudden-light-up reading of the rudder warning.

Independent study material, not an Airbus publication and not endorsed by the manufacturer. Always defer to the current operator FCOM, FCTM, and QRH for operational use.