A milestone in aviation history this week. The Gimli Glider (pictured) made its final flight on Thursday 24 January.
I mentioned this amazing story a few months back. In brief, in 1983 an Air Canada Boeing 767 ran out of fuel at 28,000 feet over Ottawa and the pilots glided it safely to the ground — landing at an old airport which, unbeknownst to the pilot, was not a motor racing circuit. A very, very fine piece of flying indeed.
The aircraft was returned to normal service — there’s nothing a bit of panel-beating can’t fix! — and for the last 24 years has had a normal career.
Hat-tip (and the full story) thanks to Telstar Logistics.
Possibly related posts
Tags: aviation, gimli glider


ABC The Drum
Crikey
CSO Online
Delicious
Dopplr
Flickr
LinkedIn
newmatilda.com
Patch Monday
Posterous
Qik
Stilgherrian Live (Ustream)
Technology Spectator
Twitter
Viddler
No comments
Comments feed for this article
Trackback link: http://stilgherrian.com/engineering/gimli_glider_final_flight/trackback/