Emergency landing at Gimli Industrial Park Airport, Gimli, Manitoba 50°37′44″N97°02′38″W / 50.62889°N 97.04389°W / 50.62889; -97.04389
Aircraft
Aircraft type
Boeing 767-233
Operator
Air Canada
IATA flight No.
AC143
ICAO flight No.
ACA143
Call sign
AIR CANADA 143
Registration
C-GAUN
Flight origin
Montreal-Dorval International Airport
Stopover
Ottawa Macdonald–Cartier International Airport
Destination
Edmonton International Airport
Occupants
69
Passengers
61
Crew
8
Fatalities
0
Injuries
10
Survivors
69
C-GAUN, the aircraft involved in the accident, photographed 2 years after the incident.
Air Canada Flight 143, commonly known as the Gimli Glider, was a Canadian scheduled domestic passenger flight between Montreal and Edmonton that ran out of fuel on Saturday, July 23, 1983,[1] at an altitude of 41,000 feet (12,500 m), midway through the flight. The flight crew successfully glided the Boeing 767 to an emergency landing at a former Royal Canadian Air Force base in Gimli, Manitoba, which had been converted to a racetrack, Gimli Motorsports Park.[2][3][4][5][6] It resulted in no serious injuries to passengers or persons on the ground, and only minor damage to the aircraft. The aircraft was repaired and remained in service until its retirement in 2008. This unusual aviation incident earned the aircraft the nickname "Gimli Glider."[7]
The incident was caused by a series of issues, starting with a failed fuel-quantity indicator sensor (FQIS). These had high failure rates in the 767, and the only available replacement was also nonfunctional. The problem was logged, but later, the maintenance crew misunderstood the problem and turned off the backup FQIS. This required the fuel to be manually measured using a dripstick. The navigational computer required the fuel to be entered in kilograms; however, an incorrect conversion from volume to mass was applied, which led the pilots and ground crew to agree that it was carrying enough fuel for the remaining trip. The aircraft was carrying only 45% of its required fuel load.[7][8] The aircraft ran out of fuel halfway to Edmonton, where maintenance staff were waiting to install a working FQIS that they had borrowed from another airline.[9]
The Board of Inquiry found fault with Air Canada procedures, training, and manuals. It recommended the adoption of fueling procedures and other safety measures that U.S. and European airlines were already using. The board also recommended the immediate conversion of all Air Canada aircraft from Imperial units to metric units, since a mixed fleet was more dangerous than an all-Imperial or an all-metric fleet.[9]
^"What Happened on July 23, 1983". OnThisDay.com. Retrieved December 24, 2022.
^"Fuel-starved engines blamed for crash landing of Ottawa jet". Ottawa Citizen. staff and news services. July 25, 1983. p. 1.
^"Jetliner glides down on race track". Calgary Herald. Canadian Press. July 25, 1983. p. A1.
^"Fuel trouble blamed for forcing jet down on car-racing strip". The Leader-Post. (Regina, Saskatchewan). Canadian Press. July 25, 1983. p. A1.
^"Air Canada jetliner lands on abandoned airstrip". Toledo Blade. (Ohio). Associated Press. July 25, 1983. p. 2.
^"New jet's emergency blamed on fuel system". Pittsburgh Press. UPI. July 25, 1983. p. a1.
^ abWitkin, Richard (July 30, 1983). "Jet's Fuel Ran Out After Metric Conversion Errors". The New York Times. Retrieved August 21, 2007.
^"Great Miscalculations". BBC News. BBC. May 22, 2014. Retrieved January 8, 2016.
^ abCite error: The named reference final_report was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
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