I was there that day, the boys on the bikes came looking for us, “a plane has crashed”, there had been zero noise and we expected it to be a small private plane, total shock to see a wide body jet sitting there. We spent time administering first aid to the passengers who had road rash after hitting the tarmac from the escape chutes. Our trophies for the 1983 road racing season were ceramic plaques with the plane’s image on them.
Me and my best friend was against the metric system in middle school the teachers told us we were rebels,, but after that happened we called them dummies 🤣
I remember when this happened. There was an editorial cartoon out shortly after this happened. Ground crewman on top of the wing asking his buddy 'how many feet in a litre?'.
I remember reading about this when it happened and you missed one small but important point. The spectators at the race had their backs to the aircrafts approach, and since it was coming in silently, didn't realize the danger. Of the two boys with bicycles you mentioned, who saw the plane coming in, one DID realize the danger and began pedaling down the runway as fast as he could, screaming out warnings as he went. He was credited with clearing the spectators from the area where the plane finally came to a stop. Who knows how many might have died if it hadn't been for his quick thinking. He should be remembered as well.
That little boy many years later while driving on the highway to Gimli 40 minutes south, which just so happened to be beside St Andrews airport had it happen again. A small plane landed on the highway in an emergency right in front of his vehicle. He pulled over and gave assistance. What are the odds? lol
One of my friends was living and working in Manitoba at the time of the incident. At the time he was into drag racing and he was actually at the old RCAF landing strip at the time the incident, he was one of the people who helped extinguish the minor fire that started from the plane landing with the nose wheel not deployed correctly. To prove that the world is a small place a number of years ago I met the pilot of the "Gimli Glider", Bob Pearson. I talked to Mr Pearson for some time about the whole incident and he was quite friendly and informative. I remember him saying that people have called him a hero for saving the plane and all the passengers, but he stated that he was also saving himself!
..thevis a line in (IIRC) Martin Caiden's book The High and the Mighty' to.that very point...when asked if he was concerned with getting the passengers safely to their destination...he reply that he was more concerned about getting HIS ass there safely. .if he got there safely. it followed they the passengers would also...
That also reminds me of the one pilot in Catch-22. Everybody wants to fly with him because he's absolutely terrified of being shot down, so he zigs and zags, and climbs and dives, so unpredictably that he makes the plane a very difficult target.
there's another similar incident, even more dramatic since it happened over the ocean, involving the pilot Robert Piché, best known for performing a deadstick landing of an Airbus A330 (C-GITS) in the Azores in 2001. He glided the Airbus A330 longer than any commercial aircraft in history, and landed at an airport on a remote island with limited navigation instruments. He was able to successfully land the plane (with only 8 blown tires) with only a few injuries among the crew and 306 passengers.[2][4] In a response to a reporter's question regarding heroism, Mr. Piché stated "I don't consider myself a hero, sir. I could have done without this."
As an aircraft maintenance instructor of over 30 years, I have used this occurrence as an example of improper use of an MEL and knowledge of the systems maintenance staff work on. Thanks for keeping the story alive. It has several great lessons for staff and management.
Read this story a while ago, and aside from everything that went wrong, there was just enough bits of good luck that aligned in their favour to bring it to a safe conclusion.
Disasters are always a chain of failures. ( I could name a certain ship , but I won’t) Miracles are a chain of failures with one or two links broken by luck or skill.
@@trooperdgb9722 I can’t remember when it was but there was a dc-10 that lost all hydraulics and could only be flown by varying the engine thrust they happened to have a dc-10 instructor pilot flying as a passenger who helped. Most crew and passengers survived and in the accident investigation the flight was simulated over a hundred times and every time there was a catastrophic crash that no one could have survived.
I remember learning forward slips to land while too high on final. My instructor told me about this. My man slipped a 767 and saved every person. The flight crew are heroes.
One of the aircraft I took my initial flight training in was a 7AC Champ which had no flaps so side-slipping was required. I rather enjoyed doing it but my instructor was not amused when I did that in a Cessna 150 once in lieu of using the flaps, lol.
@@solracer66 My instructor had me paractice slips -- just it case the flaps (electric) pooped out. Also fly around using just rudder instead of ailerons. Also what to do in case the instrument panel went dark, at night. Stalls, etc. Usual stuff. Important thing is not to get rattled, or excited.
@@2lotusman851 I practiced all that as well plus spin training also. I was nervous about that but after doing something like 25 of them I could recover the 152 in half a turn and 200' of altitude but most importantly had trained my mind that with stalls/spins putting the nose down is the safe thing to do so I wouldn't do the wrong thing in a panic situation.
I’ve been an official with the Winnipeg Sports Car Club for about 20 years. While I was not there for this, I know people who were there. One of the two kids that were riding their bikes that day (and had to get out of the way) had an interesting story to tell many years later. A while back (10-15 years?) he was travelling on a highway just north of Winnipeg. This highway travels by a small, but busy airport that did a lot of flight training. As he drove along, a small plane on a training flight had problems, and landed on the highway behind him. He had to go into the ditch to get out of the way. 🙂
If it is even remotely busy then that's St. Andrew's airport about 40 minutes south of gimli and that's where I got my private pilot certification. Of course, I live in SoCal now so definition of busy airport is a little different here.
Many other documentaries mention an airbase converted into a drag strip and drag races were being held that day. I've heard that they were autocross races, not drag. The photo at 12:22 looks like some sort of formula class. Anyone know what type of races were being hosted at Gimli that day?
I've seen the number of specials on the Gimli Glider but I knew the history guy would come through with something I didn't already know. He did. The maintenance crew running out of gas. Classic. Well done. Mr history guy
As with all incidents I've come across in my 30+ years in aviation it's rarely just a single item that causes a mishap or accident. Multiple things go wrong or are overlooked that snowball into a catastrophe. Another quality video on your part! One small thing, the FQI is called the Fuel QUANTITY Indicator. Cheers!
Exactly right: it's referred to as the "Swiss cheese model" where several steps have to have an error to precipitate the accident: if just one step eliminated the error most people wouldn't even know how close they came to their end!
The company I work for has a procedure for tracking back to find the failed links in the chain of events that lead to a mishap. Rarely is it ever due to a single cause, but usually to one thing out of place causing another, and another and so on. The goal is to find that “original “ event that started the raveling.
The Gimli Glider "incident" is mandatory content in any aviation failure analysis for SO many reasons. That photo of drivers in their race cars with a 767, nose down, looming over them is epic. And to imagine that that plane flew for another 25yrs speaks so much. I can only imagine Pearson's call to "the company" afterwards, "Yeah, we came up short of Edmonton, but we're all good boys. I need 1/2 a dozen GreyHounds and the same mechanics, stat. I'll stay where I'm from, you come where I'm to.
The Gimli Glider story has long been famous amongst us aviators... it is nice to know the rest of the story... and you did an excellent job of telling it to us. Thank you very much!!
I was an Airline Captain for 27 years ( B 747 - B 777 - B 767 - A 320 - DC 8 ) ...the Pressure to depart on time was CRAZY !!! It's SILLY to go flying with doubts about anything in Your Plane . I flew Fighters in the Air Force , when we " scrambled ", we were Fast but Logical , and there was No Doubt about anything.
I was living there and my father was the rcmp in charge. He was first on scene as he was driving by airport when call came in plane was crashing. He watched it land. What a day!
My first time out drag racing at Gimli a few years ago, I parked my car beside another racer who was one of the kids on the bikes during the landing. It's a small strange world.
A great account of a legendary event. As an avid amateur historian of aviation literature and a glider pilot myself I offer one minor correction only because it illustrates the amazing, curious, and sometimes counterintuitive abilities of sport gliders and sailplanes. They in fact do not “tend to be as light as possible”. Many gliders and virtually all cross country racing gliders contain water tanks in the wings so that they can be made as heavy as possible, hundreds of pounds more than with just the pilot aboard. This is to increase their gliding speed as they are coasting down between the powerful upcurrents used to gain altitude (without an engine). Strangely, the decrease in climbing performance of a heavier glider is more than offset by its increased glide speed between climbs, at least when the upcurrents are strong. When rising atmospheric currents are weak the water can be dumped from the tanks in flight and is almost always dumped prior to landing. On a day with strong air currents a heavier glider will go faster and thus farther on a given day and encounter more rising air currents than an otherwise identical but lighter glider. In optimal conditions a modern racing glider can fly hundreds of kilometers at an average speed FASTER than a four seat 200 hp airplane!
In 1970, I had a similar experience piloting a YO-3 recon aircraft (truly the first stealth military aircraft) over North Vietnam. I had just reached altitude of 3000 feet, when the aircraft started to shake like a pop corn machine. The tachometer would red line and then zero.I reduced both power and manifold pressure and the extreme vibration stopped, but no thrust. I slowly increased power and the vibrations became so extreme,I thought the canopy was going to blow off. I had a brief chat with the SO in the front seat informing him we might have to bailout. I feathered the prop, activated my emergency transponder and signaled MAYDAY. I was just about to jettison the canopy (at night over NV) when I took a glanced at my instruments. The O-3 was maintaining altitude but with low ground speed. I was gliding. The O-3 was built on a glider frame but could I limp back to base flying over the DMZ ? For 35 minutes I dived and soared finally arriving. I signaled a dead stick landing. SNAFU! An O-2 taxied in the runup area. I signaled a third time and a green light appeared at the tower. I lowered my under-carriage and was making a good approach when the 0-2 taxied where I had intended to touchdown. I prepared myself for a crashing landing on the muddy grounds to the right. At the very last second, the O-2 started his takeoff roll. I was so close on his tail, I CLOUD SEE HIS AVIONICs panel all lit up. That is not the end. I had read about wind shears, but never encounter one, I anticipated making a three point landing but when I flared out, the 0-3 porpoise Back into the air. This happened two more times. Finally, running out of runway, I lowered the flaps to 30 degrees and turned the master switch off. Touch down, but I had to press the brakes hard resulting in a skid into the soft mud, finally stopping. There was a firetruck and a meatwagión right behind the aircraft. The first thing I said "I need a GD drink". One medic had a flask of Old Crow. The best swig I have ever had! Verdict? Contaminated AVGAS. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lockheed_YO-3_Quiet_Star
I amazed nobody was killed or seriously hurt... truly incredible! The survival of the people aboard the Air Canada flight is a testimony to the skill of the aircrew.
I'm a glider pilot, and this is perhaps my favorite glider story. I learned quite a bit more about the event, and the way you tell these stories is quite engaging. Thanks so much!
A slip actually uses the rudder to turn the airplane a but sideways to the slipstream. This means that the fuselage, which is normally facing the wind straight on is now going sideways to the wind, and this generates the needed additional drag. The reason this is not recommended in a big jet is because if the air flowing over the fuselage hits the engine it can disrupt the airflow and cause a flameout. As the engine was not operating this was not an issue.
The pilot's knowledge of gliders and the old airbase are essential to the positive outcome. It exemplifies the need for people to develop a wide range of skills and experiences, improving their problem-solving capabilities.
My grandparents had vacation property in Gimli (my grandfather had trained pilots there during the War) and Bob Pearson had a farm near my childhood home (North Glengarry, Ontario).
I used to use this as a chemistry teacher to illustrate the importance of paying attention to units (gallons/liters or pounds/kilograms) while doing any conversion. If the units don’t cancel out correctly…..something is definitely wrong! This could have been easily avoided, in hindsight.
I remember reading a book about this incident. Fascinating story. Thanks to the History Guy I learned today about the repair crew getting lost and running out of gas. LOL. Talk about an error laden flight and, thankfully, a remarkable flight crew.
Another Glider flight... The Azores Glider. Air Transat Flight 236 took off from Toronto, Canada, bound for Lisbon, Portugal, on August 24, 2001. A fractured fuel line left the plane with no fuel and both engines flamed out over the Atlantic. Pilot Robert Piché, brought the plane in for a hard landing at Lajes Airport on Terceira Island, Azores. This turned out to be the longest unpowered glide of a passenger airliner in history. Everyone survived.
Well you have most of the story correct. I was working at AC at the time and an old mechanic (Bill) told us the next morning exactly what had happened. It took many months for AC to admit what happened. Bill told us the pilots had the correct number (in weight) except they had pounds instead of KG, which is why they got about half way from Ottawa to Edmonton. This aircraft was purchased by PWA (one of two 767's with metric systems). The airline was in financial trouble, and sold these two aircraft to AC, who had bought 30 767's in Imperial systems. AC's lack of awareness, lack of training etc that came out later was the flaw that allowed this to happen. The pilots were confused by the strangely worded error message about a fuel pump. Bill's friend was on the plane and in the cockpit. He was looking up the error message in a manual when several other fuel pump failure messages came up. The pilot said, "never mind, I know what it is"... there was no fuel to pump. With that the engines shut down and 35 miles from WPG airport was too far. Gimli was nearby and the rest was a very great relief that no one was hurt. The plane flew for another 30 years. AC finally admitted that the pilots were not to blame, and reinstated them (with an award). And after that, the Gimli Glider became history!
Reminds me of a story I read when I was a kid in the Civil Air Patrol and we were taking Flight Training. "The plane that crashed before takeoff" . It was about the importance of all your PreFlight checks, especially mass calculations and the effects of temperature and humidity on air density.
I thought I knew this whole story, but in fact I had no idea about the hilariously complex comedy of errors that led to the insufficient fuel. Thank you for detailing all the facts.
Gimli, Manitoba, was named by settlers who came from Iceland. J. R. R. Tolkien took the Dwarves' names from the _Dvergatal_ section of the _Völuspá,_ one of the poems in the _Poetic Edda,_ which originated in Iceland. 😺
Nice video, and it seems to agree with all the reports I have read about the incident. However, I think a couple small bits of misinformation crept in: - It was stated that large commercial jets are not designed to glide, or words to that effect, and that they don't normally glide. But practically every fixed wing airplane glides as a normal part of landing. Yes, the engines still run, and can be powered up for greater thrust if the aircraft falls below the intended 'glide slope', but for the most part they are just idling while the aircraft trades altitude for speed, and that is all that is required to keep it flying during the descent. And every aircraft is 'designed to glide', at least satisfactorily, because engine failures happen and no aircraft designer or maker wants their products dropping out of the sky when engine failures inevitably occur. Do they glide as well as dedicated glider aircraft? No. Can they glide reasonably well? Yes, most definitely. - It was stated that planes of this type don't 'slip', or the pilots are not trained to do it, or whatever. Yet my friends who are commercial jet pilots say that 'slip' is a common technique when overtaking slower aircraft, especially when a string of different aircraft are all in the landing pattern at an airport. The air traffic controller advised that they are overtaking the aircraft ahead, and they might just deploy their spoilers or other devices on the wing in order to increase drag to slow down a bit, or they might 'slip' to increase drag and slow down that way. And I have seen large commercial jets slipping on approach to Chicago O'Hare airport.
We had to study this incident in school as part of our aviation human factors course, while we all knew the cause of the problem, we still had essentially recreate the investigation, and present evidence for our conclusion. One of my favourite projects from school. Thank you for the great video as always.
So true! I was told that that there are three things that are worthless to a pilot: sky above you, runway behind you, and empty space in the fuel tanks.
How does the full saying go? "Any landing you can walk away from is a good one... Any landing, after which you can use the aircraft AGAIN, is a GREAT one."
2 Other points come to mind. Primary radar at Canadian ATC towers had been removed, without a transponder ATC was blind to dead responders. At Winnipeg they still had an old set not yet removed physically. They had pulled out the old set, hooked it up and it could provide distance and direction and an improvised paper ruler was used to measure on the screen. Also a friend of mine was a Captain on the 767 and the performance when lightly loaded was so great they had to be careful as not to alarm the passengers in a climb. I believe this aircraft, not sure but a 767 Air Canada, was climbing lightly loaded out of Ottawa? In the climb the fuel settled in the rear of the tanks causing the same sequence of alarms to display as the pumps struggled to pull fuel from the tanks. I can't find my reference for this but it was a footnote in a book called "Freefall" written about this incident.
Thanks. Seems to be a Canadian thing. Air Transat 236 from Toronto to Lisbon lost all power over the Atlantic due to a fuel leak. It would have been a little scarier than over land and they did a dead stick into the Azores having glided for 75 miles. Once again, incidents are generally an accumulation of minor problems each of which in themselves are not catastrophic but one on top of the other push things over the edge. Having worked in the aviation industry checking dangerous goods, it was drilled into us that you make no assumptions, check everything, check it a different way, question everything and never just take someone's word for it. For a while I worked with Air Transat and have the greatest respect for them, the people I came in contact with were total professionals.
I've always been amazed by the knife's edge this incident rests on. One tiny thing out of place and you either have an uneventful flight or an unforgettable disaster
In this case as in most there was not one tiny thing; you needed a broken part, a conversion to metric a dozen people didn't know about, training/deligation issues, new arcraft info issues, and someone playing around. Any one of the six things does not happen and the issue is avoided.
@@Milnoc I think Matt's point was that a minor change to this incident could have resulted either in the flight being completely uneventful or could have resulted in it being a complete disaster with much loss of life (for example, if the First Officer had not been familiar with Gimli and they hadn't been able to make it to Winnipeg.)
This story is so amazing. The incredible incompetence and negligence on the part of the ground crew and airline on one end, and the equally incredible skill and quick thinking of the air crew on the other end, and a healthy dose of luck to tip the scales. It's invigorating to say the least. Ten thousand blessings to those men and their families.
Brilliant, History Guy--as usual! The Gimli Glider is one of my favourite aviation stories, along with the story you also ably coverd about the Boeing clipper seaplane that took "The Long Way Home" from Australia to the U.S. just as WW ll started. Indeed, both stories "deserve to be remembered'!
As a Canadian pilot I’ve been hearing about the Gimli Glider for decades. That was an excellent synopsis and there were a couple of things in there I hadn’t heard before. Well done. Great opening graphic.
I am very familiar with this story ( retired airline pilot ) however I love the way you tell aviation stories... well researched and well narrated... *Well done!*
I remember reading about this in the papers, way back then. Could have ended in disaster, but it didn't, thanks to great flying skills. Not so great computing skills, but still impressive! :-) I think there was a similar incident in Russia a few years ago, where there was an airstrip that shouldn't really have been there, because it was closed down years ago. But the locals had kept it in shape, hoping for renewed air operations. And an airliner in trouble just stumbled upon it. The way I remember it, the flight crew was about to put the aircraft down on a river bank, when an air stewardess tapped the captain's shoulder and said, "Sir, sorry to bother you, but isn't that an airstrip out to the left?" Can't remember the specifics now, but perhaps a future video from THG?
A version of what to a friend in an A 6 flying back from North VietNam . Ran out of fuel and glided in to the first US airbase available . Cheered thst night at the BOQ by the airforce officers as the best navy glider pilots .
One commenter here mentioned a sword cutting both ways. I read once that the Treaty of Versailles that ended WW I was written forbidding the Germans from training pilots in powered aircraft. The writer posited that many older Luftwaffe pilots who later fought in WW II were experienced glider pilots first. He claimed that they had a skills advantage early on in the war. Whether true or not, glider pilots rock, lucky Capt. Pearson was one or there'd have been hundreds killed that day.
Pearson belonged to SOSA(southern Ontario Soaring Association) a glider club in Rockton, a small village outside of Hamilton Ontario the very west end of lake ontario, which I belonged to at that time, gliding skills sure came in handy for this
I really enjoy your aviation related episodes, probably because I was an Airline Pilot for 25 years. I once had to land a Boeing 777 on one engine in Cold Bay, Alaska in 2004. That was easy compared to what the guys in this episode did.
I was across Lake Winnipeg that day but have often been watching the drag races where she landed. From other pics it looks like the nose stopped sliding just about at the starting line of the 1/4 mile dragstrip (it runs south the plane is facing north) maybe 30 ft from the Christmas tree. Its port wingtip would have been just over the chainlink fence where lots of us watch the races from. Thank God no injuries.
Loss of all engines has happened - more frequently than you might suspect though the reasons might differ (volcanic ash, ice ingestion, oil leaks, fuel leaks) - Air Transat Flight 236 in 2001 out of fuel over the Atlantic - the Azores Glider with the longest passenger aircraft glide and also an experienced glider pilot as PIC.
Gloin is a dwarf in JRR Tolkien's The Hobbit, his son Gimli is a dwarf in JRR Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, it's fantasy that deserves to be remembered.
You didn't quite cover the runway situation in its entirety. 2006 I was applying for my first job out of flight school (skydiver driver), I was up with the chief pilot in my first circuit with him, we took off north bound and when I came around to line up for the runway, (even knowing the story!), I naturally lined up with the most inviting one. Canadian cold war basses were parallel runways so interceptors could launch with their wingman already in formation, and the runway still in service is perfect for any aircraft outside the A380, however it is just a grey asphalt runway with only light traffic: the race track looks more inviting with all the fresh rubber laid down, it just looks like what a pilot expects to see! My chief pilot, looked at me and asked me where I was going, and there was a couple seconds until I had my "oh s#!t" moment: he made me promise to never do it again, and I never did! But without someone there to warn you, in an engine out situation, you can't see the barriers until your far too close to do anything about it!
I remember that flight. I had worked on airplanes in the Air Force and understood what happened when the WHOLE story game out about running out of gas. Thanks for the walk back!
Really good job on this! I have known about the Gimli glider for a long time and the conversion issue, but haven't known about the multiple points of failure.
It's such a remarkable event for all the things that had to go wrong for it to happen, and all the things that had to go right for it not to be a catastrophe.
I remember when this happened. The same year we lost an incredible singer Stan Rogers to an on-board fire. I remember how angry people were about the conversation of Canada to the metric system. One great benefit of the metric system and the pocket calculator is that now most people are completely incapable of calculating sums in their head.
This story brought tears to my eyes. Thank God for skilled professionals. This includes the Indonesian volcano mishap, The Louisiana hailstorm the Hudson ditching and the Siberian landing all without loss of life because of consummate skill and cool demeanor in an emergency that none of them ever expected to see.
Thank you for making this, I requested you make one about the Gimli glider a couple of years ago and here it is. I recently found out that after it was retired a section of the fuselage was turned into 10,000 luggage tags/keychains and were available for limited sale, unfortunately I found out too late and they were already sold out.
Gimili Manitoba was an air force training base established during WWII. My Dad may have trained there during WWII. in 1987 I drove to Winnipeg from Calgary in my vintage 1952 Kaiser Manhattan car. My Uncle who I met up with at Winnipeg Beach close to Gimili trained as well in the RCAF in WWII talked a lot about this former base and about the accident. He took me to Gimili for an outing . We were strolling down by the pier when suddenly the Prime Minister of Canada Brian Mulroney showed up in a boat and he happily went around shaking everybody's hands. I had fun taking pictures of him. He seemed to really enjoy himself.
Gimli was re-activated during the Cold War for NORAD and NATO training ... my Dad was posted there as a flight instructor and so, of course, was I ... some nice base brat memories
Lol. I lived in the town where ther shot the “made for tv” movie, about this incident. I knew all bout the incident, except for the maintenance ground crew. Your take on this was impeccable as always.
The episode.of Mayday that covered this incident mentions at the end that five different crews tried to replicate this landing in the simulator and none of them were successful.
I was there that day, the boys on the bikes came looking for us, “a plane has crashed”, there had been zero noise and we expected it to be a small private plane, total shock to see a wide body jet sitting there. We spent time administering first aid to the passengers who had road rash after hitting the tarmac from the escape chutes. Our trophies for the 1983 road racing season were ceramic plaques with the plane’s image on them.
Mr. Lloyd,
My hat is doffed to you, My Good Sir. You did the Good Deed by being there and administering aid.
Now *THAT* is a great story. Thanks for sharing. And thanks for helping.
What a story. Thank God that there was an experienced glider pilot at the controls of that unlikely glider.
What a great memory 🤗
Me and my best friend was against the metric system in middle school the teachers told us we were rebels,, but after that happened we called them dummies 🤣
I remember when this happened. There was an editorial cartoon out shortly after this happened. Ground crewman on top of the wing asking his buddy 'how many feet in a litre?'.
In 1999 NASA lost its $125-million Mars Climate Orbiter because spacecraft engineers failed to convert from English to metric measurements.
Almost like W asking about Brazilians.. Remind me again, how many's a brazillian?
Ha! Ha! Good one!
LOL at the question "how many feet in a litre?" 😄
@@martinoamello3017 Ha, a Brazilian is a type of, um, haircut.
I remember reading about this when it happened and you missed one small but important point. The spectators at the race had their backs to the aircrafts approach, and since it was coming in silently, didn't realize the danger. Of the two boys with bicycles you mentioned, who saw the plane coming in, one DID realize the danger and began pedaling down the runway as fast as he could, screaming out warnings as he went. He was credited with clearing the spectators from the area where the plane finally came to a stop. Who knows how many might have died if it hadn't been for his quick thinking. He should be remembered as well.
That would have been some spectacular video to see.
That little boy many years later while driving on the highway to Gimli 40 minutes south, which just so happened to be beside St Andrews airport had it happen again. A small plane landed on the highway in an emergency right in front of his vehicle. He pulled over and gave assistance.
What are the odds? lol
@@mikecamrcplus3057 Sounds like something you get form Hitchhikers gudie to th galaxy kind of odds
@@mikecamrcplus3057 Now there's a man who's going to keep looking up the rest of his days.
One of my friends was living and working in Manitoba at the time of the incident. At the time he was into drag racing and he was actually at the old RCAF landing strip at the time the incident, he was one of the people who helped extinguish the minor fire that started from the plane landing with the nose wheel not deployed correctly. To prove that the world is a small place a number of years ago I met the pilot of the "Gimli Glider", Bob Pearson. I talked to Mr Pearson for some time about the whole incident and he was quite friendly and informative. I remember him saying that people have called him a hero for saving the plane and all the passengers, but he stated that he was also saving himself!
A bit of honesty is always so refreshing lol
On a tiny scale - One reason I didn't have trouble teaching my kids how to drive was I knew "self preservation" was a reliable instinct. #humor
..thevis a line in (IIRC) Martin Caiden's book The High and the Mighty' to.that very point...when asked if he was concerned with getting the passengers safely to their destination...he reply that he was more concerned about getting HIS ass there safely.
.if he got there safely. it followed they the passengers would also...
That also reminds me of the one pilot in Catch-22. Everybody wants to fly with him because he's absolutely terrified of being shot down, so he zigs and zags, and climbs and dives, so unpredictably that he makes the plane a very difficult target.
Pounds-per-liter is an AMAZINGLY cursed unit of measurement.
there's another similar incident, even more dramatic since it happened over the ocean, involving the pilot Robert Piché, best known for performing a deadstick landing of an Airbus A330 (C-GITS) in the Azores in 2001. He glided the Airbus A330 longer than any commercial aircraft in history, and landed at an airport on a remote island with limited navigation instruments. He was able to successfully land the plane (with only 8 blown tires) with only a few injuries among the crew and 306 passengers.[2][4] In a response to a reporter's question regarding heroism, Mr. Piché stated "I don't consider myself a hero, sir. I could have done without this."
As an aircraft maintenance instructor of over 30 years, I have used this occurrence as an example of improper use of an MEL and knowledge of the systems maintenance staff work on.
Thanks for keeping the story alive. It has several great lessons for staff and management.
Read this story a while ago, and aside from everything that went wrong, there was just enough bits of good luck that aligned in their favour to bring it to a safe conclusion.
Disasters are always a chain of failures. ( I could name a certain ship , but I won’t)
Miracles are a chain of failures with one or two links broken by luck or skill.
God was with them
God was with them
Some luck...lots of skill!
@@trooperdgb9722 I can’t remember when it was but there was a dc-10 that lost all hydraulics and could only be flown by varying the engine thrust they happened to have a dc-10 instructor pilot flying as a passenger who helped. Most crew and passengers survived and in the accident investigation the flight was simulated over a hundred times and every time there was a catastrophic crash that no one could have survived.
When the plane was retired and flown down south, the Americian Military ATC allowed the plane to buzz the tower before landing. A very rare thing.
This airframe definately earned that.
As someone who grew up listening to Paul Harvey, can I just say I love your presentation style!
Now you know the rest of the story.
@@rogertulk8607 Good Day!
I remember learning forward slips to land while too high on final. My instructor told me about this. My man slipped a 767 and saved every person. The flight crew are heroes.
One of the aircraft I took my initial flight training in was a 7AC Champ which had no flaps so side-slipping was required. I rather enjoyed doing it but my instructor was not amused when I did that in a Cessna 150 once in lieu of using the flaps, lol.
I had a 7ECA Champ that didn’t have flaps so slips were normal procedure to loose altitude rapidly.
@@solracer66 My instructor had me paractice slips -- just it case the flaps (electric) pooped out. Also fly around using just rudder instead of ailerons. Also what to do in case the instrument panel went dark, at night. Stalls, etc.
Usual stuff.
Important thing is not to get rattled, or excited.
@@2lotusman851 I practiced all that as well plus spin training also. I was nervous about that but after doing something like 25 of them I could recover the 152 in half a turn and 200' of altitude but most importantly had trained my mind that with stalls/spins putting the nose down is the safe thing to do so I wouldn't do the wrong thing in a panic situation.
I’ve been an official with the Winnipeg Sports Car Club for about 20 years. While I was not there for this, I know people who were there.
One of the two kids that were riding their bikes that day (and had to get out of the way) had an interesting story to tell many years later.
A while back (10-15 years?) he was travelling on a highway just north of Winnipeg. This highway travels by a small, but busy airport that did a lot of flight training.
As he drove along, a small plane on a training flight had problems, and landed on the highway behind him. He had to go into the ditch to get out of the way. 🙂
If it is even remotely busy then that's St. Andrew's airport about 40 minutes south of gimli and that's where I got my private pilot certification.
Of course, I live in SoCal now so definition of busy airport is a little different here.
Always in the way, but always quick to get out of it...
@@homomorphic Ding! Ding! Ding! Got it in one. 🙂
He was on Hwy 9 just to the east of St. Andrews.
That kid had a better chance of being struck by lightning twice!
Many other documentaries mention an airbase converted into a drag strip and drag races were being held that day. I've heard that they were autocross races, not drag.
The photo at 12:22 looks like some sort of formula class. Anyone know what type of races were being hosted at Gimli that day?
I've seen the number of specials on the Gimli Glider but I knew the history guy would come through with something I didn't already know. He did. The maintenance crew running out of gas. Classic. Well done. Mr history guy
As with all incidents I've come across in my 30+ years in aviation it's rarely just a single item that causes a mishap or accident. Multiple things go wrong or are overlooked that snowball into a catastrophe. Another quality video on your part! One small thing, the FQI is called the Fuel QUANTITY Indicator. Cheers!
Exactly right: it's referred to as the "Swiss cheese model" where several steps have to have an error to precipitate the accident: if just one step eliminated the error most people wouldn't even know how close they came to their end!
Robert Serling, older brother of Rod and a prominent aviation writer in his own right, said the same thing about the causes of air disasters.
check above at my landing of a crippled YO 3
The perfect storm was not one issue but a chain of them.
The company I work for has a procedure for tracking back to find the failed links in the chain of events that lead to a mishap. Rarely is it ever due to a single cause, but usually to one thing out of place causing another, and another and so on. The goal is to find that “original “ event that started the raveling.
The Gimli Glider "incident" is mandatory content in any aviation failure analysis for SO many reasons. That photo of drivers in their race cars with a 767, nose down, looming over them is epic. And to imagine that that plane flew for another 25yrs speaks so much.
I can only imagine Pearson's call to "the company" afterwards, "Yeah, we came up short of Edmonton, but we're all good boys. I need 1/2 a dozen GreyHounds and the same mechanics, stat. I'll stay where I'm from, you come where I'm to.
I never leave comments, but would like you to know that I absolutely enjoy this channel and your story telling. Thank you!!
The Gimli Glider story has long been famous amongst us aviators... it is nice to know the rest of the story... and you did an excellent job of telling it to us. Thank you very much!!
Among road racers, too, thanks to AutoWeek.
Being from Winnipeg, I've heard this story countless times. Yet, I never get tired of hearing it. It's just incredible airmanship.
I amazed nobody was killed or seriously hurt... truly incredible!
incredible airmanship combined with incredible incompetence
I was an Airline Captain for 27 years ( B 747 - B 777 - B 767 - A 320 - DC 8 ) ...the Pressure to depart on time was CRAZY !!!
It's SILLY to go flying with doubts about anything in Your Plane .
I flew Fighters in the Air Force , when we " scrambled ", we were Fast but Logical , and there was No Doubt about anything.
I believe Air Canada's best pilots tried that landing in the Sim and crashed everytime. The airmanship displayed that day was superb!
Brilliant pilot, brilliant story. Thanx History Dude and Wife 🙏.
I was living there and my father was the rcmp in charge.
He was first on scene as he was driving by airport when call came in plane was crashing. He watched it land.
What a day!
My first time out drag racing at Gimli a few years ago, I parked my car beside another racer who was one of the kids on the bikes during the landing. It's a small strange world.
A great account of a legendary event. As an avid amateur historian of aviation literature and a glider pilot myself I offer one minor correction only because it illustrates the amazing, curious, and sometimes counterintuitive abilities of sport gliders and sailplanes. They in fact do not “tend to be as light as possible”. Many gliders and virtually all cross country racing gliders contain water tanks in the wings so that they can be made as heavy as possible, hundreds of pounds more than with just the pilot aboard. This is to increase their gliding speed as they are coasting down between the powerful upcurrents used to gain altitude (without an engine). Strangely, the decrease in climbing performance of a heavier glider is more than offset by its increased glide speed between climbs, at least when the upcurrents are strong. When rising atmospheric currents are weak the water can be dumped from the tanks in flight and is almost always dumped prior to landing. On a day with strong air currents a heavier glider will go faster and thus farther on a given day and encounter more rising air currents than an otherwise identical but lighter glider. In optimal conditions a modern racing glider can fly hundreds of kilometers at an average speed FASTER than a four seat 200 hp airplane!
In 1970, I had a similar experience piloting a YO-3 recon aircraft (truly the first stealth military aircraft) over North Vietnam. I had just reached altitude of 3000 feet, when the aircraft started to shake like a pop corn machine. The tachometer would red line and then zero.I reduced both power and manifold pressure and the extreme vibration stopped, but no thrust. I slowly increased power and the vibrations became so extreme,I thought the canopy was going to blow off. I had a brief chat with the SO in the front seat informing him we might have to bailout. I feathered the prop, activated my emergency transponder and signaled MAYDAY. I was just about to jettison the canopy (at night over NV) when I took a glanced at my instruments. The O-3 was maintaining altitude but with low ground speed. I was gliding. The O-3 was built on a glider frame but could I limp back to base flying over the DMZ ? For 35 minutes I dived and soared finally arriving. I signaled a dead stick landing. SNAFU! An O-2 taxied in the runup area. I signaled a third time and a green light appeared at the tower. I lowered my under-carriage and was making a good approach when the 0-2 taxied where I had intended to touchdown. I prepared myself for a crashing landing on the muddy grounds to the right. At the very last second, the O-2 started his takeoff roll. I was so close on his tail, I CLOUD SEE HIS AVIONICs panel all lit up. That is not the end. I had read about wind shears, but never encounter one, I anticipated making a three point landing but when I flared out, the 0-3 porpoise Back into the air. This happened two more times. Finally, running out of runway, I lowered the flaps to 30 degrees and turned the master switch off. Touch down, but I had to press the brakes hard resulting in a skid into the soft mud, finally stopping. There was a firetruck and a meatwagión right behind the aircraft. The first thing I said "I need a GD drink". One medic had a flask of Old Crow. The best swig I have ever had! Verdict? Contaminated AVGAS. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lockheed_YO-3_Quiet_Star
Many times I’ve flown the Schweizer 2-32 sailplane that your recon machine was based on. An excellent glider with beautiful handling.
Commented on Turning Point: Lam Son 719
Please check first engine failure
Fascinating story. I had no idea an aircraft like the YO-3 even existed till now! Pretty rare machine, even back then!
@@joshuanishanthchristian5217 I have plenty of stories.
Well done Sir. Just as good as the gimli story.
Mentour Pilot has an excellent and thorough analysis of this event from the point of view of an experienced commercial pilot.
a great complement to this one
I amazed nobody was killed or seriously hurt... truly incredible! The survival of the people aboard the Air Canada flight is a testimony to the skill of the aircrew.
I'm a glider pilot, and this is perhaps my favorite glider story. I learned quite a bit more about the event, and the way you tell these stories is quite engaging. Thanks so much!
A slip actually uses the rudder to turn the airplane a but sideways to the slipstream. This means that the fuselage, which is normally facing the wind straight on is now going sideways to the wind, and this generates the needed additional drag.
The reason this is not recommended in a big jet is because if the air flowing over the fuselage hits the engine it can disrupt the airflow and cause a flameout.
As the engine was not operating this was not an issue.
The pilot's knowledge of gliders and the old airbase are essential to the positive outcome. It exemplifies the need for people to develop a wide range of skills and experiences, improving their problem-solving capabilities.
My grandparents had vacation property in Gimli (my grandfather had trained pilots there during the War) and Bob Pearson had a farm near my childhood home (North Glengarry, Ontario).
Bullshit
What a coincidence! Your connections are uncanny.
I used to use this as a chemistry teacher to illustrate the importance of paying attention to units (gallons/liters or pounds/kilograms) while doing any conversion. If the units don’t cancel out correctly…..something is definitely wrong! This could have been easily avoided, in hindsight.
I'm always a huge fan of Canadian content on THG channel! I personally appreciate it very much and encourage you to keep it coming! :)
I remember reading a book about this incident. Fascinating story.
Thanks to the History Guy I learned today about the repair crew getting lost and running out of gas. LOL.
Talk about an error laden flight and, thankfully, a remarkable flight crew.
Another Glider flight... The Azores Glider. Air Transat Flight 236 took off from Toronto, Canada, bound for Lisbon, Portugal, on August 24, 2001. A fractured fuel line left the plane with no fuel and both engines flamed out over the Atlantic. Pilot Robert Piché, brought the plane in for a hard landing at Lajes Airport on Terceira Island, Azores. This turned out to be the longest unpowered glide of a passenger airliner in history. Everyone survived.
A movie was made on the event and captain Piché's life.
ua-cam.com/video/hbuFijYjHsI/v-deo.html
Wow! What a horrifying incident -- and I had never heard of it. That would make a great movie.
I remember this, it was about 2 weeks before September 11th
Well you have most of the story correct. I was working at AC at the time and an old mechanic (Bill) told us the next morning exactly what had happened. It took many months for AC to admit what happened. Bill told us the pilots had the correct number (in weight) except they had pounds instead of KG, which is why they got about half way from Ottawa to Edmonton. This aircraft was purchased by PWA (one of two 767's with metric systems). The airline was in financial trouble, and sold these two aircraft to AC, who had bought 30 767's in Imperial systems. AC's lack of awareness, lack of training etc that came out later was the flaw that allowed this to happen. The pilots were confused by the strangely worded error message about a fuel pump. Bill's friend was on the plane and in the cockpit. He was looking up the error message in a manual when several other fuel pump failure messages came up. The pilot said, "never mind, I know what it is"... there was no fuel to pump. With that the engines shut down and 35 miles from WPG airport was too far. Gimli was nearby and the rest was a very great relief that no one was hurt. The plane flew for another 30 years. AC finally admitted that the pilots were not to blame, and reinstated them (with an award). And after that, the Gimli Glider became history!
Reminds me of a story I read when I was a kid in the Civil Air Patrol and we were taking Flight Training. "The plane that crashed before takeoff" . It was about the importance of all your PreFlight checks, especially mass calculations and the effects of temperature and humidity on air density.
I remember that story or, one titled the same, in Boy's Life's Book of Aviation Stories.
@@paveltolz6601 looking back on it now I'm willing to bet that's where the CO got it from.
Boys Life- haven't thought of that in a few decades!👍
I thought I knew this whole story, but in fact I had no idea about the hilariously complex comedy of errors that led to the insufficient fuel. Thank you for detailing all the facts.
Sure glad this A.C. flight went down in history instead of down in the woods! Pilot sure had a connection to his aircraft.
Incredible story of coming through in a pinch after something that should have never happened.
If you like that look up British Airways flight 5390.
Gimli, Manitoba, was named by settlers who came from Iceland. J. R. R. Tolkien took the Dwarves' names from the _Dvergatal_ section of the _Völuspá,_ one of the poems in the _Poetic Edda,_ which originated in Iceland. 😺
Had the pilot not been an experienced glider pilot, this might have been a tragedy. Good on you mate!!
Nice video, and it seems to agree with all the reports I have read about the incident. However, I think a couple small bits of misinformation crept in:
- It was stated that large commercial jets are not designed to glide, or words to that effect, and that they don't normally glide. But practically every fixed wing airplane glides as a normal part of landing. Yes, the engines still run, and can be powered up for greater thrust if the aircraft falls below the intended 'glide slope', but for the most part they are just idling while the aircraft trades altitude for speed, and that is all that is required to keep it flying during the descent. And every aircraft is 'designed to glide', at least satisfactorily, because engine failures happen and no aircraft designer or maker wants their products dropping out of the sky when engine failures inevitably occur. Do they glide as well as dedicated glider aircraft? No. Can they glide reasonably well? Yes, most definitely.
- It was stated that planes of this type don't 'slip', or the pilots are not trained to do it, or whatever. Yet my friends who are commercial jet pilots say that 'slip' is a common technique when overtaking slower aircraft, especially when a string of different aircraft are all in the landing pattern at an airport. The air traffic controller advised that they are overtaking the aircraft ahead, and they might just deploy their spoilers or other devices on the wing in order to increase drag to slow down a bit, or they might 'slip' to increase drag and slow down that way. And I have seen large commercial jets slipping on approach to Chicago O'Hare airport.
We had to study this incident in school as part of our aviation human factors course, while we all knew the cause of the problem, we still had essentially recreate the investigation, and present evidence for our conclusion. One of my favourite projects from school.
Thank you for the great video as always.
My flight instructor would say "altitude is money in the bank". One of your best Lance! ✈ "Keep em flying!!"
So true! I was told that that there are three things that are worthless to a pilot: sky above you, runway behind you, and empty space in the fuel tanks.
My flight instructor would say, "Never run out of altitude, airspeed, and ideas at the same time."
@@schroedingersdog7965 I was told the only time an aircraft has too MUCH fuel...is when it's on fire... lol
Airspeed is life, and altitude is life insurance.
How does the full saying go? "Any landing you can walk away from is a good one... Any landing, after which you can use the aircraft AGAIN, is a GREAT one."
Having grown-up in the general aviation industry, I had to watch this episode again. Thanks !
2 Other points come to mind.
Primary radar at Canadian ATC towers had been removed, without a transponder ATC was blind to dead responders. At Winnipeg they still had an old set not yet removed physically. They had pulled out the old set, hooked it up and it could provide distance and direction and an improvised paper ruler was used to measure on the screen.
Also a friend of mine was a Captain on the 767 and the performance when lightly loaded was so great they had to be careful as not to alarm the passengers in a climb. I believe this aircraft, not sure but a 767 Air Canada, was climbing lightly loaded out of Ottawa? In the climb the fuel settled in the rear of the tanks causing the same sequence of alarms to display as the pumps struggled to pull fuel from the tanks. I can't find my reference for this but it was a footnote in a book called "Freefall" written about this incident.
A great bit of history, thanks from Manitoba
Thanks. Seems to be a Canadian thing. Air Transat 236 from Toronto to Lisbon lost all power over the Atlantic due to a fuel leak. It would have been a little scarier than over land and they did a dead stick into the Azores having glided for 75 miles.
Once again, incidents are generally an accumulation of minor problems each of which in themselves are not catastrophic but one on top of the other push things over the edge.
Having worked in the aviation industry checking dangerous goods, it was drilled into us that you make no assumptions, check everything, check it a different way, question everything and never just take someone's word for it. For a while I worked with Air Transat and have the greatest respect for them, the people I came in contact with were total professionals.
1983 iPad in the cockpit was a nice touch
I've always been amazed by the knife's edge this incident rests on. One tiny thing out of place and you either have an uneventful flight or an unforgettable disaster
Mind you, it was a successful disaster. Everyone lived and no serious injuries!
Thats aviation allright
In this case as in most there was not one tiny thing; you needed a broken part, a conversion to metric a dozen people didn't know about, training/deligation issues, new arcraft info issues, and someone playing around. Any one of the six things does not happen and the issue is avoided.
@@Milnoc I think Matt's point was that a minor change to this incident could have resulted either in the flight being completely uneventful or could have resulted in it being a complete disaster with much loss of life (for example, if the First Officer had not been familiar with Gimli and they hadn't been able to make it to Winnipeg.)
I am very familiar with this incident but never knew all the details of why things went so wrong. Leave it to The History Guy to fill all the gaps!
This story is so amazing. The incredible incompetence and negligence on the part of the ground crew and airline on one end, and the equally incredible skill and quick thinking of the air crew on the other end, and a healthy dose of luck to tip the scales. It's invigorating to say the least. Ten thousand blessings to those men and their families.
What a great finish to a great story!!!!
I used to live on that base, when it WAS a base.
A guy I worked with, belonged to that sports car club, and was there that day.
Brilliant, History Guy--as usual! The Gimli Glider is one of my favourite aviation stories, along with the story you also ably coverd about the Boeing clipper seaplane that took "The Long Way Home" from Australia to the U.S. just as WW ll started. Indeed, both stories "deserve to be remembered'!
As a Canadian pilot I’ve been hearing about the Gimli Glider for decades. That was an excellent synopsis and there were a couple of things in there I hadn’t heard before. Well done. Great opening graphic.
Apparently you’ve never done a water landing.
Ohhh I remember this story....our family was camping at Blue Lake Ont. when this occurred and we're from Winnipeg (I was 12)
I am very familiar with this story ( retired airline pilot ) however I love the way you tell aviation stories... well researched and well narrated... *Well done!*
I remember reading about this in the papers, way back then. Could have ended in disaster, but it didn't, thanks to great flying skills. Not so great computing skills, but still impressive! :-) I think there was a similar incident in Russia a few years ago, where there was an airstrip that shouldn't really have been there, because it was closed down years ago. But the locals had kept it in shape, hoping for renewed air operations. And an airliner in trouble just stumbled upon it. The way I remember it, the flight crew was about to put the aircraft down on a river bank, when an air stewardess tapped the captain's shoulder and said, "Sir, sorry to bother you, but isn't that an airstrip out to the left?" Can't remember the specifics now, but perhaps a future video from THG?
A version of what to a friend in an A 6 flying back from North VietNam . Ran out of fuel and glided in to the first US airbase available . Cheered thst night at the BOQ by the airforce officers as the best navy glider pilots .
One commenter here mentioned a sword cutting both ways. I read once that the Treaty of Versailles that ended WW I was written forbidding the Germans from training pilots in powered aircraft. The writer posited that many older Luftwaffe pilots who later fought in WW II were experienced glider pilots first. He claimed that they had a skills advantage early on in the war. Whether true or not, glider pilots rock, lucky Capt. Pearson was one or there'd have been hundreds killed that day.
I live just south of Gimli, always remember hearing the story growing up. Thanks for the flashback
I've been waiting for this one.
Pearson belonged to SOSA(southern Ontario Soaring Association) a glider club in Rockton, a small village outside of Hamilton Ontario the very west end of lake ontario, which I belonged to at that time, gliding skills sure came in handy for this
I really enjoy your aviation related episodes, probably because I was an Airline Pilot for 25 years. I once had to land a Boeing 777 on one engine in Cold Bay, Alaska in 2004. That was easy compared to what the guys in this episode did.
TY THG for some of the best aviation history stories on UA-cam. ✈
Thanks!
Your many custom opening title graphics which are each themed to every specific video topic is an amazing logistical feat!
No big secret. I use a program called Viddyoze.
Love these aeronautical pieces. Great stuff!
You really are a born story teller.
I was across Lake Winnipeg that day but have often been watching the drag races where she landed. From other pics it looks like the nose stopped sliding just about at the starting line of the 1/4 mile dragstrip (it runs south the plane is facing north) maybe 30 ft from the Christmas tree. Its port wingtip would have been just over the chainlink fence where lots of us watch the races from. Thank God no injuries.
Loss of all engines has happened - more frequently than you might suspect though the reasons might differ (volcanic ash, ice ingestion, oil leaks, fuel leaks) - Air Transat Flight 236 in 2001 out of fuel over the Atlantic - the Azores Glider with the longest passenger aircraft glide and also an experienced glider pilot as PIC.
Thanks, from Manitoba 🦬
Gloin is a dwarf in JRR Tolkien's The Hobbit, his son Gimli is a dwarf in JRR Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, it's fantasy that deserves to be remembered.
and it’s called Gimli because Manitoba has a looooot of people of icelandic descent
Thank you, I was looking for this comment!
That is an amazing story!
You didn't quite cover the runway situation in its entirety.
2006 I was applying for my first job out of flight school (skydiver driver), I was up with the chief pilot in my first circuit with him, we took off north bound and when I came around to line up for the runway, (even knowing the story!), I naturally lined up with the most inviting one. Canadian cold war basses were parallel runways so interceptors could launch with their wingman already in formation, and the runway still in service is perfect for any aircraft outside the A380, however it is just a grey asphalt runway with only light traffic: the race track looks more inviting with all the fresh rubber laid down, it just looks like what a pilot expects to see! My chief pilot, looked at me and asked me where I was going, and there was a couple seconds until I had my "oh s#!t" moment: he made me promise to never do it again, and I never did! But without someone there to warn you, in an engine out situation, you can't see the barriers until your far too close to do anything about it!
One of my favourite miracle stories, never get tired of hearing it
I remember that flight. I had worked on airplanes in the Air Force and understood what happened when the WHOLE story game out about running out of gas. Thanks for the walk back!
Ahh Red Lake a little gem of Canadian aviation history . A town that is an Ode to the bush plane and gold. Thanks History guy.
My co-worker, a retired F-15 pilot and commercial airline pilot, told me about this incident several years ago.
I always love the various tellings of this story: it is an excellent one.
Really good job on this! I have known about the Gimli glider for a long time and the conversion issue, but haven't known about the multiple points of failure.
Awesome story Lance and THG crew.. keep 'em coming..
Beautiful story! Thank you!
It's such a remarkable event for all the things that had to go wrong for it to happen, and all the things that had to go right for it not to be a catastrophe.
I remember when this happened. The same year we lost an incredible singer Stan Rogers to an on-board fire.
I remember how angry people were about the conversation of Canada to the metric system.
One great benefit of the metric system and the pocket calculator is that now most people are completely incapable of calculating sums in their head.
F ya!
@@larmondoflairallen4705
I don't understand the comment.
🇨🇦 Thanks. We’ve been to Gimli and visited the airstrip.
Impeccable comic delivery at the end! Cheers to the pilots!
This channel always brings something interesting and new to me.
This story brought tears to my eyes. Thank God for skilled professionals. This includes the Indonesian volcano mishap, The Louisiana hailstorm the Hudson ditching and the Siberian landing all without loss of life because of consummate skill and cool demeanor in an emergency that none of them ever expected to see.
Your videos are always iinteresting! thanks!
The old saw is any landing you walk away from is a good one. Considering everything, this landing was exceptional.
I flew on that plane back in 1986. At the time I had no idea why they said "welcome aboard the world famous Gimli Glider" when they started boarding.
Thank you for making this, I requested you make one about the Gimli glider a couple of years ago and here it is. I recently found out that after it was retired a section of the fuselage was turned into 10,000 luggage tags/keychains and were available for limited sale, unfortunately I found out too late and they were already sold out.
Thank you for shining a light on this monumental aviation moment that honestly didn't even get as much coverage and recognition as it should've.
Wow! What a great story! Thanks for sharing.
Gimili Manitoba was an air force training base established during WWII. My Dad may have trained there during WWII. in 1987 I drove to Winnipeg from Calgary in my vintage 1952 Kaiser Manhattan car. My Uncle who I met up with at Winnipeg Beach close to Gimili trained as well in the RCAF in WWII talked a lot about this former base and about the accident. He took me to Gimili for an outing . We were strolling down by the pier when suddenly the Prime Minister of Canada Brian Mulroney showed up in a boat and he happily went around shaking everybody's hands. I had fun taking pictures of him. He seemed to really enjoy himself.
Gimli was re-activated during the Cold War for NORAD and NATO training ... my Dad was posted there as a flight instructor and so, of course, was I ... some nice base brat memories
I live near Gimli Mb!! Very cool topic! Thanks for producing this!!
Lol. I lived in the town where ther shot the “made for tv” movie, about this incident. I knew all bout the incident, except for the maintenance ground crew.
Your take on this was impeccable as always.
The episode.of Mayday that covered this incident mentions at the end that five different crews tried to replicate this landing in the simulator and none of them were successful.