Gimli Glider retired
I noticed this interesting bit of news yesterday... I remember the event!
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Famous Gimli Glider retired from Air Canada service
Canwest News Service
Thursday, January 24, 2008
MONTREAL -- Air Canada employees gathered in Montreal today to bid farewell to one of their more storied birds.
On its last flight, the Boeing 767 known as the infamous Gimli Glider, made a pass and waved its wings as a salute to the city that was the point of origin of a 1983 trip that wrote a page of aviation history.
It could have been an ugly page about one of the worst aviation disasters in Canadian history.
In July 23, 1983, maintenance crews for Air Canada Flight 143 discovered 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, even if none of them had been trained to do this.
The aircraft arrived safely in Ottawa and it was not until a warning signal began beeping at 12,300 metres somewhere over Red Lake, Ont., that the flight crew realized the mistake - imperial measurements had been used to calculate how much fuel was needed rather than metric.
The plane had run out of fuel and both engines soon ran out of steam.
Captain Robert Pearson, a trained glider pilot, 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 Maurice 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 30 metres from where the group had collected, after its front landing gear collapsed on landing.
The so-called Gimli Glider, having sustained only minor damages, entered back into service just two days later.
Today marked the plane's final journey as it headed to airplane heaven, in California's Mojave Desert, where planes are mothballed.
Pearson and Quintal were among others on the plane's final flight.
- - -
Famous Gimli Glider retired from Air Canada service
Canwest News Service
Thursday, January 24, 2008
MONTREAL -- Air Canada employees gathered in Montreal today to bid farewell to one of their more storied birds.
On its last flight, the Boeing 767 known as the infamous Gimli Glider, made a pass and waved its wings as a salute to the city that was the point of origin of a 1983 trip that wrote a page of aviation history.
It could have been an ugly page about one of the worst aviation disasters in Canadian history.
In July 23, 1983, maintenance crews for Air Canada Flight 143 discovered 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, even if none of them had been trained to do this.
The aircraft arrived safely in Ottawa and it was not until a warning signal began beeping at 12,300 metres somewhere over Red Lake, Ont., that the flight crew realized the mistake - imperial measurements had been used to calculate how much fuel was needed rather than metric.
The plane had run out of fuel and both engines soon ran out of steam.
Captain Robert Pearson, a trained glider pilot, 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 Maurice 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 30 metres from where the group had collected, after its front landing gear collapsed on landing.
The so-called Gimli Glider, having sustained only minor damages, entered back into service just two days later.
Today marked the plane's final journey as it headed to airplane heaven, in California's Mojave Desert, where planes are mothballed.
Pearson and Quintal were among others on the plane's final flight.
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