Part A

Gimli the Glider: An unusual aviation incident

On July 23, 1983 an Air Canada Flight 143, domestic passenger flight between Montreal and
Edmonton, ran out of fuel midway through the flight. The crew was able to glide the aircraft, the
Boeing 767, safely to an emergency landing at a former Air Force Base of the country in Gimli,
Manitoba. This unusual incident earned the aircraft the nickname “Gimli Glider”.
On the day of flight before leaving, the aircraft was refueled at Montreal and fuel level was
checked manually as fuel gauges were malfunctioning. But ground crew calculated the fuel in
Imperial Units (pounds) whereas the in flight system computer was programmed for Metric
Units (kilograms) and that erroneous calculation was approved by the flight crew. During flight
was cruising at height of 41000 feet the aircraft’s cockpit warning system sounded, indicating
fuel pressure problem on aircraft’s left side and within matter of few minutes both the engines
stopped working because of fuel starvation. The 767 was incorporated in electronic flight
instrument system, which operated on electricity generated by aircraft’s jet engines. With both
engines stopped, the system went dead, leaving only a few battery-powered emergency flight
instruments but amongst those instruments vertical speed indicator wasn’t there, which would
help in predicting how long aircraft could glide unpowered.
Assessing the situation the pilots decided to land at nearest landing facility, former RCAF station
Gimli, but with the engines shut the hydraulic system required for controlling the aircraft were
also inoperative. With the help of backup generator power and his gliding expertise Captain Bob
Pearson maneuvered plane and attempted to land it.
As soon as the aircraft touched down on the runway the unlocked nose wheel collapsed causing
the aircraft’s nose slam into and scraps along the ground. This additional frictional drag helped in
decelerating the aircraft quickly. The flight came to a final stop on the ground 17 minutes after
running out of fuel. There were no serious injuries among the 61 passengers, 8 crew members or
the people on the ground.

References
 “Gimli Glider”. Wikipedia, Wikipedia.org, n.p., en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gimli_Glider
 CBC News: The National. “The Gimli Glider: 30 Years Later.” Online Video Clip.
YouTube. YouTube. 23 Nov 2015. Web. 25 Jan 2020
 Allan Bellows 2019, the Gimli Glider, Damn Interesting, accessed 25 Jan 2020,<
https://www.damninteresting.com/the-gimli-glider/ >

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