Posted on 01/24/2008 8:10:35 AM PST by Clive
Air Canada employees will gather today in Montreal to bid farewell to the infamous Gimli Glider as it embarks on its final journey to the Mojave desert.
It is a graceful end for the storied Boeing 767 that could easily have become the subject of one of the worst aviation disasters in Canadian history were it not for the cool composure of the pilot, Captain Robert Pearson, and his First Officer, Maurice Quintal, 25 years ago. Both will be at the send-off today.
The story of the Gimli Glider began on July 23, 1983, when maintenance crews for Air Canada Flight 143 discovered that a shoddy soldering job had knocked out the computer that calculates how much fuel is needed to get the plane from Montreal to Edmonton, with a brief stopover in Ottawa.
Instead of cancelling the flight, the ground crews decided to do the calculations manually -- triple checking their work to ensure its accuracy. As it turns out, none of the ground crew had ever been trained to do this, but when the aircraft arrived safely in Ottawa, they felt assured of their work.
It was not until a warning signal began beeping at 41,000 feet somewhere over Red Lake, Ont., that the flight crew realized their error -- they had used imperial measurements to calculate how much fuel was needed rather than metric.
The first warning signal indicating that fuel had run out on one engine was followed by a "sharp bong," indicating both engines were out of steam. Because the electrical system was run off the engines, the power was soon knocked out in the cockpit, save for the manual controls, and the plane began plunging at 2,000 feet per minute.
Capt. Pearson was a trained glider pilot and immediately had his first officer begin calculating for the optimum gliding speed for an 80-tonne jumbo jet. After determining they would not make it to Winnipeg, First Officer Quintal suggested taking the plane down at a nearby Air Force base in Gimli, Man., where he once served.
Unbeknownst to the first officer, however, was that one of the airstrips -- where the plane would eventually land -- had become a drag-racing strip. On that day, crowds of campers had collected along the runway to watch go-cart races.
The plane's nose gear eventually came to a stop just 100 feet from where the group had collected, after its front landing gear collapsed on landing.
What could have been a major disaster turned into a miraculous story. The so-called Gimli Glider, having sustained only minor damages, entered back into service just two days later and has continued to fly since. That is until today when it makes its final journey to the so-called "boneyards" of the Mojave desert.
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Ping
aeroping!
That ship belongs in a museum ...
I’ve always wanted a glider. Wonder what kind of vehicle you’d need to get it aloft?
The Smithsonaian Udvar-Hazy Center does not have a B767 in its collection ...
or maybe a museum belongs in that ship...
Just...WOW!
ping
A really fast submarine.
Those doggone Imperial gallons again...
I vaguely remember that story. How much time did they have to get the car racers off the landing strip?
REally an amazing story
I see now it said 100 feet. these monitors are hard to read. especially with bad eyes.
“The plane’s nose gear eventually came to a stop just 100 feet from where the group had collected, after its front landing gear collapsed on landing.”
Reminds me of this classic: “Hwy 405: The Movie.”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZ-hG6vV16o
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