Gimli Glider
Flight 143 after landing at Gimli, Manitoba
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| Accident summary | |
|---|---|
| Date | July 23, 1983 |
| Summary | Fuel starvation due to insufficient refueling and improper maintenance |
| Site | Emergency landing at Gimli Industrial Park Airport, Gimli, Manitoba 50°37′44″N 97°02′38″W / 50.62889°N 97.04389°WCoordinates: 50°37′44″N 97°02′38″W / 50.62889°N 97.04389°W |
| Passengers | 61 |
| Crew | 8 |
| Fatalities | 0 |
| Injuries (non-fatal) | 10 (minor; during evacuation) |
| Survivors | 69 (all) |
| Aircraft type | Boeing 767–233 |
| Operator | Air Canada |
| Registration | C-GAUN |
| Flight origin | Montreal-Dorval International Airport |
| Stopover | Ottawa Macdonald–Cartier International Airport |
| Destination | Edmonton International Airport |
The Gimli Glider is the nickname of an Air Canada aircraft that was involved in an unusual aviation incident. On July 23, 1983, Air Canada Flight 143, a Boeing 767–233 wide body jetliner, ran out of fuel at an altitude of 12,500 metres (41,000 ft) above mean sea level, about halfway through its Montreal to Edmonton flight. The flight crew was able to glide the aircraft safely to an emergency landing at an auto racing track that was previously RCAF Station Gimli, a Royal Canadian Air Force base in Gimli, Manitoba.
The subsequent investigation revealed a combination of company failures and a chain of human errors that defeated built-in safeguards. The amount of fuel that had been loaded was miscalculated because of a confusion as to the calculation of the weight of fuel using the metric system, which had recently replaced the imperial system for use with the 767.
On July 22, 1983, 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 for the return trip to Edmonton (with a stopover in Ottawa), with Captain Robert (Bob) Pearson, 48, and First Officer Maurice Quintal at the controls. Captain Pearson was a highly experienced pilot, having accumulated more than 15,000 flight hours. First Officer Quintal was also very experienced, having logged over 7,000 hours of total flight time.
On July 23, 1983, Flight 143 was cruising at 12,500 metres (41,000 ft) over Red Lake, Ontario. The aircraft's cockpit warning system sounded, indicating a fuel pressure problem on the aircraft's left side. Assuming a fuel pump had failed the pilots turned it off, since gravity should feed fuel to the aircraft's two engines. The aircraft's fuel gauges were inoperative because of an electronic fault indicated on the instrument panel and airplane logs.
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