Gimli Glider Miracle: Boeing 767 Lands Safely Without Engines

The Boeing 767-233 aircraft, known as Air Canada Flight 143, was on its 12th revenue flight for Air Canada when disaster struck. On July 23, 1983, both engines suddenly quit at an altitude of 41,000 feet over Red Lake, Ontario.

Captain Robert Pearson and First Officer Maurice Quintal were left flying a 132-ton glider with no power. The aircraft's fuel system was measured in kilograms, but the ground crew had calculated the fuel load in pounds, resulting in an error of a factor of 2.2.

The Boeing 767 needed 22,300 kilograms of fuel for the flight to Edmonton, but it received only 22,300 pounds, which is less than half the required amount. This meant that the aircraft was carrying roughly 10,000 kilograms of fuel instead of 22,300.

Captain Pearson, an experienced glider pilot, knew instinctively how to handle this situation. He understood that every foot of altitude was currency and had to be spent precisely.

The crew used a manual dipstick measurement of the fuel in the tanks, converted using the wrong factor. This error went unnoticed until both engines flamed out in flight.