Air Canada Flight 143: fuel starvation

Synopsis

On 23^rd July 1983, Air Canada Flight 143, a Boeing 767-200 jet, was flying from Montreal to Edmonton via Ottawa, when the flight ran out of fuel, consequently losing power on all engines. It made an emergency landing on an unused raceway at Gimli Industrial Park (Gimly, Manitoba). The captain successfully attempted a glider pilot technique on its approach in order to lose altitude quickly prior to landing. The landing was successful, and no lives were lost in this accident.

The reason for running out of fuel was the use of different fuel measurements to translate fuel volume into fuel weight. Most Air Canada's fleet use imperial weight measurement (pounds), but this particular Boeing was a new generation aircraft using the metric system, instead. The engineer refuelling the aircraft translated fuel volume into pounds instead of kilograms, resulting in the aircraft taking off with less fuel than expected. As the pilot also entered the weight in pounds instead of kilograms, the computer system was also displaying innacurate fuel information.

Aviation crash video

Part 1 of 5

(Video embedded from YouTube on 27 August 2009 —see Cineflix, undated1)

Part 2 of 5

(Video embedded from YouTube on 27 August 2009 —see Cineflix, undated1)

Part 3 of 5

(Video embedded from YouTube on 27 August 2009 —see Cineflix, undated1)

Part 4 of 5

(Video embedded from YouTube on 27 August 2009 —see Cineflix, undated1)

Part 5 of 5

(Video embedded from YouTube on 27 August 2009 —see Cineflix, undated1)

Footnotes

1. Also known as Deadly glide, or Miracle flight.

2. Also aired as Air crash investigation, or Mayday.

References

1. CINEFLIX (undated). Gimli glider.¹ Air crash investigations² (Montreal, Canada), undated. Parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 retrieved from YouTube on 27 August 2009.

Want to know more

Wikipedia - Air Canada Flight 143

This page in Wikipedia offers more detailed information about the occurrence.

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Authors / Editors

alphaaditya
JDPerezgonzalez