Everything You Need to Know About Air Canada Flight 143: the Gimli Glider Faq

Uncover essential details on Everything You Need to Know About Air Canada Flight 143: the Gimli Glider Faq.

Pearson could not extend the landing gear via normal controls. The pilots pulled the emergency gravity extension lever to drop the wheels into place. The heavy main gears fell down and locked securely. The nose wheel, however, failed to lock because it had to deploy forward into the raging wind without hydraulic push, leaving it unlatched.

When the 767 hit the tarmac at Gimli, the nose gear collapsed backward under the weight. The plane's nose dropped directly onto the concrete, throwing a cascade of sparks and plowing a trench down the center of the dragway. The frictional drag of the metal grinding into the runway proved to be a lifesaver: it decelerated the massive aircraft far faster than locked wheel brakes could have on their own.

Spectators on the ground scrambled in panic as the silent jet barrelled toward them. Children on bicycles pedaled desperately away from the centerline guardrail. The plane skidded to a complete halt mere yards from the crowd. Ground crew and racers rushed forward with handheld fire extinguishers to douse small friction fires in the nose section. All 61 passengers and eight crew members exited via the emergency escape slides. Ten passengers sustained minor scrapes during the steep rear slide evacuation, but not a single soul died.