Gimli Glider

The Gimli Glider is the nickname of an Air Canada aircraft which was involved in a notable aviation incident. On 23 July 1983, Air Canada Flight 143, a Boeing 767-200 jet, ran completely out of fuel at 41,000 feet (12,500 m) altitude, about halfway through its flight from Montreal to Edmonton via Ottawa. The crew was able to glide the aircraft safely to an emergency landing at Gimli Industrial Park Airport, a former airbase at Gimli, Manitoba. Th... more

The Gimli Glider is the nickname of an Air Canada aircraft which was involved in a notable aviation incident. On 23 July 1983, Air Canada Flight 143, a Boeing 767-200 jet, ran completely out of fuel at 41,000 feet (12,500 m) altitude, about halfway through its flight from Montreal to Edmonton via Ottawa. The crew was able to glide the aircraft safely to an emergency landing at Gimli Industrial Park Airport, a former airbase at Gimli, Manitoba. The subsequent investigation revealed corporate failures and a chain of minor human errors which combined to defeat built-in safeguards. In addition, fuel loading was miscalculated through misunderstanding of the recently adopted metric system which replaced the Imperial system. On 22 July 1983, the day before the incident, Air Canada's Boeing 767 (registration C-GAUN, c/n 22520/47) flew from Toronto to Edmonton where it underwent routine checks. The next day it was flown to Montreal. Following a crew change, it departed Montreal as Flight 143... less