The Gimli Glider is one of those stories where every aspect sounds more fake than the last and yet it all actually happened.
-A passenger plane was underloaded with fuel because Canada had just converted to the metric system and everyone supposed to double check their numbers got it wrong. -When the plane ran out of fuel they were too far away to make it to an in-service airport and had to head towards the Gimli military base. Which was shuttered. -They were coming in to fast due to a lack of flaps control and had to perform a series of slips (as shown in the video above) to slow down, basically drifting a giant passenger plane. -As they come down they realized that just because Gimliâs been decommissioned doesnât mean itâs abandoned because a bunch of people are having drag races on the runway theyâre about to need. -Despite everything they managed to land safely and no one was killed or even hurt which is why itâs one of the best air disasters to meme on.
The Wikipedia page on this is fantastic and my favorite line from it is âFlying with all engines out was never expected to occur, so it had never been covered in training.â
Nice
Read the Wikipedia page and have two more things to offer:
- initially the pilot was going to make a full 360 turn to lower the speed, but decided he doesnât have enough altitude
- some people did get hurt a little and you know how? While exiting the aircraft























