Gimli Glider is the nickname of an Air Canada aircraft which was involved in an infamous aviation incident. On 23 July 1983, a Boeing 767-200 jet, Air Canada Flight 143, ran completely out of fuel at 12 km (41,000 feet) altitude, about halfway through its flight from Montreal to Edmonton. The crew was able to glide the aircraft safely to an emergency landing at Gimli Industrial Park Airport, a former airbase at Gimli, Manitoba.^[1] Year 1983 (MCMLXXXIII) was a common year starting on Saturday (link displays the 1983 Gregorian calendar). ... is the 204th day of the year (205th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Fuel starvation (also known as fuel exhaustion and fuel depletion) is a problem that predominantly affects petrol-fuelled internal combustion engines, and is caused when the engine is literally starved of fuel. ... Montréal-Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport (IATA: YUL, ICAO: CYUL) (French: Aéroport international Pierre-Elliott-Trudeau de Montréal) or Montréal-Trudeau, formerly known as Montréal-Dorval International Airport, is located in the city of Dorval, on the Island of Montreal and is 20 kilometres (12... Ottawa/Macdonald-Cartier International Airport or Macdonald-Cartier International Airport (Laéroport international Macdonald-Cartier in French), (IATA: YOW, ICAO: CYOW), serves Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. ... Edmonton International Airport (IATA: YEG, ICAO: CYEG) is the primary air passenger and air cargo facility in Edmonton, Alberta as well as a major hub facility for Northern Alberta and Northern Canada. ... Air Canada is Canadas largest airline and flag carrier. ... Aviation encompasses all the activities relating to airborne devices created by human ingenuity, generally known as aircraft. ... is the 204th day of the year (205th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1983 (MCMLXXXIII) was a common year starting on Saturday (link displays the 1983 Gregorian calendar). ... American Airlines Boeing 767-300 at Gatwick Airport, England. ... Nickname: Motto: Concordia Salus (well-being through harmony) Coordinates: , Country Province Region Montréal Founded 1642 Established 1832 Government  - Mayor Gérald Tremblay Area [1][2][3]  - City 365. ... Edmonton is the capital of the Canadian province of Alberta, situated in the north central region of the province, an area with some of the most fertile farm land on the prairies. ... A modern glider crossing the finish line of a competition at high speed. ... An emergency landing is a non-planned landing made by an aircraft in response to a crisis. ... Gimli Industrial Park Airport, (ICAO CYGM, IATA YGM), is a former military field located 3. ... Gimli is a rural municipality in south-central Manitoba, Canada. ... Motto: Gloriosus et Liber (Latin: Glorious and free) Capital Winnipeg Largest city Winnipeg Official languages English French (de facto) Government Lieutenant-Governor John Harvard Premier Gary Doer (NDP) Federal representation in Canadian Parliament House seats 14 Senate seats 6 Confederation July 15, 1870 (5th) Area  Ranked 8th Total 647,797...

The subsequent investigation revealed corporate failures and a chain of minor human errors which combined to defeat built-in safeguards, deceiving Captain Robert Pearson into accepting an aircraft that should never have been flown. In addition, fuel loading was miscalculated through misunderstanding of the recently adopted metric system. The International System of Units (symbol: SI) (for the French phrase Syst me International dUnit s) is the most widely used system of units. ...

History

On 22 July 1983, the day before the incident flight, Air Canada's Boeing 767 (registration C-GAUN) 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 for the return trip via Ottawa to Edmonton, with Captain Robert (Bob) Pearson and First Officer Maurice Quintal at the controls. is the 203rd day of the year (204th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1983 (MCMLXXXIII) was a common year starting on Saturday (link displays the 1983 Gregorian calendar). ... This article is about the capital city of Canada. ...

Running out of fuel

At 12,500 m (41,000 feet) over Red Lake, Ontario, the cockpit warning system chimed four times, indicating a fuel pressure problem on the left side. The pilots assumed that a fuel pump had failed, and turned it off; the tanks are above the engines, so gravity would feed them without the pumps. The computer said that there was still plenty of fuel, but this was based on mismatched calculations (see Refuelling below). A few moments later a second fuel pressure alarm sounded, and the pilots decided to divert to Winnipeg. Within seconds the left engine failed and they prepared for a single-engine landing. Red Lake is a municipality and census division 535 km north-west of Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada. ... Motto: Ut Incepit Fidelis Sic Permanet (Latin: Loyal she began, loyal she remains) Capital Toronto Largest city Toronto Official languages English (de facto) Government - Lieutenant-Governor David C. Onley - Premier Dalton McGuinty (Liberal) Federal representation in Canadian Parliament - House seats 106 - Senate seats 24 Confederation July 1, 1867 (1st) Area... Cockpit of a light aircraft, showing instrumentation dials and dual control yokes. ... For other uses, see Winnipeg (disambiguation). ...

While they attempted to restart the engine and communicate with controllers in Winnipeg for an emergency landing, the warning system sounded again, this time with a long "bong" that no one present could recall having heard before. This was the "all engines out" sound, an event that was never simulated during training.^[2] Seconds later, the cockpit suddenly went silent as the right side engine also stopped, and the 767 lost all power. In line with their planned divert to Winnipeg, the pilots were already descending to 28,000 feet when they ran out of fuel.

The jet engines generate electrical power for the aircraft, and the 767 was one of the first airliners to have an Electronic Flight Instrument System (EFIS), requiring electricity to function. With both engines out, this system suddenly went dead, leaving only a few basic, battery-powered, standby analog flight instruments. While the emergency instruments provided basic information sufficient to land the aircraft, one of the non-functioning electronic instruments was the vertical-rate indicator, which would have let the pilots know how fast they were sinking, and therefore how far they could glide. Electricity (from New Latin Ä“lectricus, amberlike) is a general term for a variety of phenomena resulting from the presence and flow of electric charge. ... EFIS is a stucco material usually applied to rigid insulation to provide an exterior protective coating on buildings. ... Look up analog, analogue in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... The term Variometer also refers to a type of tunable electrical transformer // Definition A variometer (also known as a rate-of-climb indicator, a vertical speed indicator (VSI), or a vertical velocity indicator (VVI)) is an instrument in an aircraft used to inform the pilot of the rate of descent...

The engines also supply power for the hydraulic systems, without which an aircraft the size of the 767 cannot be controlled. However, aircraft designs are required to accommodate such a failure, and a ram air turbine automatically popped open on the underbelly of the aircraft. In theory, the forward velocity of the aircraft would spin a propeller-driven generator, providing enough power for the hydraulics to make the aircraft controllable, although this proved problematic during landing. Table of Hydraulics and Hydrostatics, from the 1728 Cyclopaedia. ... Ram air turbine on F-105 Thunderchief fighter-bomber A ram air turbine (RAT) is a small propeller and connected electrical generator used as an emergency power source for aircraft. ...

Landing at Gimli

The pilots immediately searched the emergency guide for the section on flying the aircraft with both engines out, only to find that no such section existed.^[3] By incredible good fortune, Captain Pearson was an experienced glider pilot. This gave him familiarity with some flying techniques almost never used by commercial pilots. He realized that, in order to reduce their rate of descent as much as possible, he needed to fly the 767 at a speed known as the "best glide ratio speed". He flew the aircraft at 220 knots (407 km/h), his best guess as to this airspeed. Copilot Maurice Quintal began making calculations to see if they could reach Winnipeg. He used the altitude from one of the mechanical backup instruments, while the distance traveled was supplied by the air traffic controllers in Winnipeg, measuring the distance the aircraft's echo moved on their radar screens. The aircraft had lost 5,000 ft in 10 nautical miles (1.5 km in 18.52 km) giving a glide ratio of approximately 12:1. The controllers and Quintal both calculated that Flight 143 would not make it to Winnipeg. For other uses, see Glider (disambiguation). ... Glide ratio is an aviation term that refers to the distance an aircraft will move forward for any given amount of lost altitude (the cotangent of the downward angle). ... For other uses, see Radar (disambiguation). ... A nautical mile or sea mile is a unit of length. ...

At this point, Quintal selected his former RCAF base at Gimli as the landing spot. Unbeknownst to Quintal, since his time in the service, RCAF Station Gimli had become a public airport, and had decommissioned one of its parallel runways, which was now being used for sports car racing. Furthermore, on this particular day the area was covered with cars and campers for "Family Day", and a race was being run on the former runway. “RCAF” redirects here. ... RCAF Station Gimli was an air station of the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) located near Gimli, Manitoba, Canada. ... IMSA GTP sports cars racing at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in 1991 Sports car racing is a form of circuit auto racing with automobiles that have two seats and enclosed wheels. ...

As they approached Gimli, the pilots attempted a power-off gravity drop of the main landing gear, but the nose wheel failed to lock down due to a hydraulic lock (the nose wheels are blown back by the airflow). The ever-reducing speed of the aircraft also reduced the effectiveness of the ram air turbine, and the aircraft became increasingly difficult to control. As they grew nearer it became apparent that they were too high, and Pearson executed a maneuver known as a forward slip to increase their drag and reduce their altitude. This gave passengers the sensation of plummeting sideways toward the ground. As Pearson executed the slip, the aircraft was flying over a golf course, and one passenger reportedly said, "Christ. I can almost see what clubs they're using".^[3] A slip is commonly used with gliders and light aircraft, either to lose height quickly or to execute a cross-wind landing. As soon as the wheels touched the runway, Pearson "stood on the brakes", blowing out several of the aircraft's tires. The unlocked nose wheel collapsed and was forced back into the housing causing the nose section to scrape along the ground. The aircraft came to rest only a few hundred feet from the crowd of families gathered at the end of the runway. Gravity drop refers to the use of gravity to deploy landing gear on an airplane in the event of hydraulic, engine, or power failure. ... Main and nosewheel undercarriage of a Qatar Airways Airbus A330 The undercarriage or landing gear is equipment which supports an aircraft when it is not flying. ... A slip is an aerodynamic state where an aircraft is moving sideways as well as forward relative to the oncoming airflow. ... This article needs additional references or sources for verification. ...

None of the 61 passengers were hurt during the landing, although there were some minor injuries when exiting via the rear slide which, owing to the raised elevation of the tail, was deployed at a steeper than usual angle. A minor fire in the nose area was soon put out by racers and course workers on the ground who rushed over with fire extinguishers, and the injuries were addressed by a doctor who had been about to take off in an aircraft on Gimli's other runway, which was still being used by the Air Cadet Gliding Center flying club, and skydivers. A skydiver is a person who engages in the sport of skydiving, i. ...

Mechanics were sent from Winnipeg Airport, but coincidentally, and rather ironically, their van ran out of fuel on the way to Gimli, leaving them stranded.^[4] Another van was sent to pick them up.

Investigation

The incident was the subject of an immediate investigation by Air Canada, which concluded that the pilots and mechanics were at fault. It was also subsequently investigated by the predecessor of the modern Transportation Safety Board of Canada; while concluding that Air Canada management was responsible for "corporate and equipment deficiencies", the report praised the flight and cabin crews for their "professionalism and skill".^[5] It noted that Air Canada "… neglected to assign clearly and specifically the responsibility for calculating the fuel load in an abnormal situation"^[6], finding that the airline had failed to reallocate the task of checking fuel load that had been the responsibility of the flight engineer. The Transportation Safety Board (Bureau de la sécurité des transports du Canada) is the Canadian agency responsible for maintaining transportation safety in Canada. ...

Fuel Quantity Indicator System

Information about the amount of fuel in the tanks of a Boeing 767 is computed by the Fuel Quantity Indicator System (FQIS) and displayed on gauges in the cockpit. The FQIS on the incident aircraft was a dual processor channel, each calculating the fuel independently and cross-checking with the other. In the event of one failing the other could still operate alone, but under these circumstances the indicated quantity was required to be cross-checked against a dripstick measurement before departure. In the event of both channels failing there would be no fuel display in the cockpit, and the aircraft would be considered unserviceable and not authorized to fly. A dripstick is a tube installed vertically in the bottoms of fuel tanks of many large aircraft. ...

After inconsistencies were found with the FQIS in other 767s, Boeing issued a service bulletin for the routine checking of this system. An engineer in Edmonton duly did so when the aircraft arrived from Toronto following a trouble free flight the day before the incident. It was whilst conducting this check that the FQIS failed completely and the cockpit fuel gauges went blank. The engineer had previously encountered the same problem earlier in the month when the same aircraft had arrived, again from Toronto, with an FQIS fault. He found then that disabling the second channel by pulling the circuit breaker in the cockpit restored the fuel gauges to working order albeit with only the single FQIS channel operative. In the absence of any spares he simply repeated this temporary fix by pulling and tagging the circuit breaker. A 2 pole miniature circuit breaker A circuit breaker is an automatically-operated electrical switch designed to protect an electrical circuit from damage caused by overload or short circuit. ...

On the day of the incident the aircraft flew from Edmonton to Montreal. Before departure the engineer informed the pilot of the problem and confirmed that the tanks would have to be checked with the dripstick. In a misunderstanding however the pilot believed that the aircraft had been flown with the fault from Toronto the previous afternoon. The flight proceeded uneventfully with fuel gauges operating correctly on the single channel.

On arrival at Montreal there was to be a crew change for the return flight back to Edmonton. The outgoing pilot informed Captain Pearson and First Office Maurice Quintal of the problem with the FQIS and passed on his mistaken belief that the aircraft had flown the previous day with this problem. In a further misunderstanding Captain Pearson believed that he was also being told that the FQIS had been completely unserviceable since then.

Whilst the aircraft was being prepared for its return to Edmonton, a maintenance worker decided to investigate the problem with the faulty FQIS. In order to test the system he re-enabled the second channel, at which point the fuel gauges in the cockpit went blank. He was then called away to perform a dripstick measurement of fuel remaining in the tanks. Distracted, he failed to disable the second channel, leaving the circuit breaker tagged (which masked the fact that it was no longer pulled). The FQIS was now completely unserviceable and the fuel gauges were blank.

A record of all actions and findings was made in the maintenance log, including the entry; “SERVICE CHK – FOUND FUEL QTY IND BLANK – FUEL QTY #2 C/B PULLED & TAGGED...”.^[7] This reports that the fuel gauges were blank and that the second FQIS channel was disabled, but does not make clear that the latter fixed the former.

On entering the cockpit Captain Pearson saw what he was expecting to see; blank fuel gauges and a tagged circuit breaker. He consulted the aircraft’s Minimum Equipment List (MEL) which told him that the aircraft could not be flown in this condition. However, the 767 was still a very new aircraft, having flown its maiden flight in September 1981. C-GAUN was the 47th Boeing 767 off the production line, delivered to Air Canada less than 4 months previously.^[8] In that time there had already been 55 changes to the MEL, and some pages were still blank pending development of procedures. As a result of this unreliability it had become practise for flights to be authorised by maintenance personnel. To add to his own misconceptions about the condition the aircraft had been flying in since the previous day, reinforced by what he saw in the cockpit, he now had a signed off maintenance log that it had become custom to prefer above the Minimum Equipment List. A minimum equipment list is a categorized list of instruments and equipment on an aircraft allowing it to be operated with some of those instruments or pieces of equipment inoperative. ... The Maiden flight of an aircraft is the first occasion on which an aircraft leaves the ground of its own accord. ...

Refuelling

At the time of the incident, Canada was converting to the metric system. As part of this process, the new 767’s being acquired by Air Canada were the first to be calibrated for the new system, using litres and kilograms instead of gallons and pounds. All other aircraft were still operating with imperial measurements. For the trip to Edmonton, the pilot calculated a fuel requirement of 22,300 kg. A dripstick check indicated that there were 7,682 litres already in the tanks. In order to calculate how much more fuel had to be uplifted the crew needed to convert the quantity in the tanks to a weight, subtract that figure from 22,300 and convert the result back into a quantity. (This task had previously been completed by the Flight Engineer, but the 767 was the first of a new generation of airliners operated by two flight crew and the Flight Engineer position had been made redundant.) The litre or liter (see spelling differences) is a unit of volume. ... “Kg” redirects here. ... The gallon (abbreviation: gal) is a unit of volume. ... The pound or pound-mass (abbreviations: lb, lbm, or sometimes in the United States, #) is a unit of mass (sometimes called weight in everyday parlance) in a number of different systems, including English units, Imperial units, and United States customary units. ... The Imperial units are an irregularly standardized system of units that have been used in the United Kingdom and its former colonies, including the United States and Commonwealth countries. ... For other places with the same name, see Edmonton (disambiguation). ... In aviation, a flight engineer (also referred to as systems operator ) is a member of the aircrew of an aircraft who is responsible for checking the aircraft before and after each flight, and for monitoring aircraft systems during flight. ...

A litre of jet fuel weighs 0.803 kg, so the correct calculation was:

7682 litres x 0.803 = 6169 kg
22300 kg – 6169 kg = 16131 kg
16131 kg ÷ 0.803 = 20163 litres

Between the ground crew and flight crew, however, they arrived at an incorrect conversion factor of 1.77, the weight of a litre of fuel in pounds. This was the conversion factor provided on the refueller’s paperwork and which had always been used for the rest of the airline’s imperial calibrated fleet. Their calculation produced:

7682 litres x 1.77 = 13597 ‘kg’
22300 kg – 13597 ‘kg’ = 8703 kg
8703 kg ÷ 1.77 = 4916 litres

Instead of 22,300 kg of fuel, they had 22,300 pounds on board — only a little over 10,000 kg, or less than half the amount required to reach their destination. Knowing the problems with the FQIS, the Captain double-checked their calculations but was given the same incorrect conversion factor. All he did was check their arithmetic, inevitably coming up with the same figures.

The Flight Management Computer (FMC) measures fuel consumption, allowing the crew to keep track of fuel burned as the flight progresses. It is normally updated automatically by the FQIS, but in the absence of this facility it can be updated manually. Believing he had 22,300 kg of fuel on board, this is the figure the Captain entered. A FMC is a computer carried on an aircraft to integrate the functions of navigation and performance management. ...

Because the FMC would reset during the stopover in Ottawa the Captain had the fuel tanks measured again with the dripstick whilst there. In converting the quantity to kilograms, the same incorrect conversion factor was used. Believing they now had 20,400 kg of fuel, they still only had less than half the amount they actually needed.

Aftermath

The Gimli Glider, flying into Toronto in July 2005.

It has been reported that, following Air Canada's internal investigation, Captain Pearson was demoted for six months, and First Officer Quintal was suspended for two weeks. Three maintenance workers were also suspended.^[9] However, both pilots continued to work for Air Canada, and in 1985 were awarded the first ever Fédération Aéronautique Internationale Diploma for Outstanding Airmanship.^[10] C-GAUN was patched up at Gimli and flown out two days later. ImageMetadata File history File links Gimli_Glider_today. ... ImageMetadata File history File links Gimli_Glider_today. ... Fédération Aéronautique Internationale The Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI) is a standard setting and record-keeping body for aeronautics and astronautics. ...

Similar incidents

In 2000, Hapag-Lloyd Flight 3378 landed in a powerless glide 500 metres short of the runway at Vienna International Airport in Wien-Schwechat, the airport of Vienna. All aboard survived; again the cause was misleading information from the Flight Management System. Year 2000 (MM) was a leap year starting on Saturday (link will display full 2000 Gregorian calendar). ... Hapag-Lloyd Flight 3378, registered as D-AHLB, was a commercial Hapag-Lloyd Airlines Airbus A310-304, carrying 142 passengers amd 8 crew members from Khania, Greece to Hannover, Germany. ... Vienna International Airport (IATA: VIE, ICAO: LOWW) (German: Flughafen Wien-Schwechat), located 18 kilometers (11 miles) southeast of Vienna, is the busiest airport in Austria. ... For other uses, see Vienna (disambiguation). ...

In 2001, Flight 236 of Air Transat, another Canadian airline, safely made an emergency landing in the Azores without fuel; in this case the cause was a fuel leak. The aircraft involved was an Airbus A330-243 (reg. C-GITS, cn 271), and it was the first fly-by-wire commercial aircraft in the world to make a successful "all engines out" landing.^{[citation needed]} Year 2001 (MMI) was a common year starting on Monday (link displays the 2001 Gregorian calendar). ... Air Transat Flight 236 was an Air Transat route between Toronto and Lisbon flown by Captain Robert Piché and First Officer Dirk DeJager. ... Air Transat is an airline based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, operating scheduled and charter flights and serving 90 destinations in 25 countries. ... Motto (Portuguese for Rather die free than in peace subjugated) Anthem  (national)  (local) Capital Ponta Delgada1 Angra do Heroísmo2 Horta3 Largest city Ponta Delgada Official languages Portuguese Government Autonomous region  -  President Carlos César Establishment  -  Settled 1439   -  Autonomy 1976  Area  -  Total 2,333 km² (n/a) 911 sq mi...

References

The New York Times is an internationally known daily newspaper published in New York City and distributed in the United States and many other nations worldwide. ... is the 211th day of the year (212th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1983 (MCMLXXXIII) was a common year starting on Saturday (link displays the 1983 Gregorian calendar). ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era in the 21st century. ... is the 233rd day of the year (234th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era in the 21st century. ... is the 156th day of the year (157th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era in the 21st century. ... is the 155th day of the year (156th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era in the 21st century. ... is the 301st day of the year (302nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era in the 21st century. ... is the 156th day of the year (157th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era in the 21st century. ... is the 156th day of the year (157th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era in the 21st century. ... is the 155th day of the year (156th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era in the 21st century. ... is the 109th day of the year (110th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era in the 21st century. ... is the 156th day of the year (157th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...

Further reading

• Emergency, Crisis on the Flight Deck, Stanley Stewart, Airlife Publishing Ltd., 1992, ISBN 1 85310 348 9
• Freefall: From 41,000 feet to zero - a true story, William and Marilyn Hoffer, Simon & Schuster, 1989 ISBN 978-0671696894

Jean-François Millet Le Semeur (The Sower) Simon & Schuster logo, circa 1961. ...

External links

• Gimli Glider write-up with links
• Falling from the Sky: Flight 174 at the Internet Movie Database-- TV movie loosely based on this event
• CBC Story and Video
• Photo of C-GAUN after the landing
• Pictures (airliners.net)
• GIMLI Detailed recollections on the Alt.Disasters.Aviation FAQ
• Damn Interesting story about the event

Coordinates: 50°37′44″N 97°02′38″W / 50.62889, -97.04389 The Internet Movie Database (IMDb) is an online database of information about movies, actors, television shows, production crew personnel, and video games. ... Map of Earth showing lines of latitude (horizontally) and longitude (vertically), Eckert VI projection; large version (pdf, 1. ...