- hace 7 horas
On 23 July 1983, Air Canada Flight 143 runs out of fuel at 41,000 feet (12,500m) altitude, about halfway through its flight from Montreal to Edmonton. The crew is able to glide the aircraft safely to an emergency landing at Gimli Industrial Park Airport, a former airbase at Gimli, Manitoba. An unserviceable fuel gauge and an error in converting between metric and imperial units caused the aircraft to be loaded with insufficient fuel prior to the flight.
Categoría
📺
TVTranscripción
00:02a brand new 767 fuel pressure why would that be
00:11how come i have no instruments a catastrophic failure at 26 000 feet
00:18air canada 143 go ahead just lost both engines holy cow i'm talking to a dead man
00:26uh how far are we from gimley you're approximately 12 miles from gimley right now
00:31i guess i'll just slip it the crew is out of options and running out of time
00:43they're at the controls of a 95 ton jet
00:48that's quickly falling from the sky
00:56mayday
00:57mayday
01:15in placid skies over central canada air canada flight 143 is just past the halfway mark of its journey from
01:23montreal to edmonton alberta
01:27good evening ladies and gentlemen this is your first officer the plane is carrying 61 passengers
01:32and eight crew members beautiful day clear temperature of 24 degrees celsius it's july the
01:4023rd 1983
01:42that's coming along huh
01:44rick dion is an air canada maintenance engineer
01:48i was going to edmonton with my wife pearl and my young son chris who was four years old
01:55and this was the beginning of a two-week vacation for us and we were all pretty excited about going
02:00on this new airplane
02:03compliment of the captain
02:04oh hey rob thanks whenever you want to come up to the flight deck
02:07this was my first flight on the modern 767 as the company had just acquired them
02:12i'll be back in a minute okay
02:13i was interested in going to the cockpit to see all this new technology fit in with the work that
02:19i did on aircraft
02:21the captain on this flight is bob pearson
02:24he's 48 years old and he spent more than fifteen thousand hours in the air
02:29his first officer is maurice quintel who has more than seven thousand hours of flying time
02:37come on in
02:39pardon me gentlemen rick
02:41i knew bob pearson from the small flying club that i attended in saint lazar
02:47and he was actually one of the local pilots there that used to do some gliding and he also flew
02:53the ultralight lasers
02:57we had departed heading northwest a nice clear sunny day in july
03:03we're a flight plan at 39 000 feet
03:06there were a few airplanes that flew that high in 1983
03:11and we requested 41 000 feet which got us further above the jet stream out of the west
03:17the crew may have accumulated a lot of hours in the air but very few in this plane
03:22it's boeing's latest and most advanced wide-body jet the 767
03:33an army of microprocessors in the belly of the plane automates so many functions that the flight engineer's job has
03:39been eliminated
03:42this is one of four 767s that air canada has recently acquired
03:47the plane itself has only 150 hours on it
03:53quite a difference here huh
03:54oh yeah
03:56reset on and start here
03:57the cockpit is different in that all the old instrumentation that we're accustomed to
04:03mostly that was all gone it was all crt display like uh small tv screens
04:09it was a new high-tech airplane which involved quite a change for the uh uh crew
04:17and the maintenance personnel people handling it
04:20this is a new aircraft for both the captain and i had the time i had 75 hours on that
04:27airplane so everything was new for me
04:30pilots and maintenance crews are both still getting to know this airliner
04:35well then we get that same condition
04:37captain pearson explains to dion how he handled a small problem with the engines on an earlier flight
04:42comes back down to low stage and we just carry on
04:46you know that brings up an interesting
04:52fuel pressure
04:54why would that be
04:55whoa
04:57a warning alerts the crew to critically low pressure at one of the plane's fuel pumps
05:02something's wrong with the fuel pump
05:07the 767 has three main fuel tanks
05:10two in the wings which are always used
05:13and one in the center only used on long distance flights
05:18electric fuel pumps draw fuel from each tank
05:21and feed it to the plane's two engines
05:23the low pressure warning could mean that one of the pumps needs maintenance
05:27but it could also be a more serious issue
05:30a lack of fuel to be pumped
05:33a forward fuel pump
05:35it's just a bloody pump failing i can tell you that
05:40another low fuel pressure warning sounds
05:42this one from another fuel pump on the plane's left side
05:46pearson's flight management computer tells him he should have plenty of fuel for the remainder of the trip
05:51the 767 also has separate digital fuel gauges
05:55but on this flight those gauges are out of service
05:59the warnings don't make sense
06:01what would your assessment of that be
06:03my own personal thoughts
06:05it might be low on the left tank
06:08i used to be involved with transferring fuel
06:11and i know that when you're trying to empty a tank
06:15it'll start flashing periodically
06:18and then the pump will reprime
06:20and then the light will go out
06:21in this case it appeared to do exactly the same thing
06:28captain pearson knows that if the left tank is running low
06:31the right tank may be low as well
06:35let's head for winnipeg
06:36now
06:38pearson wants to land as soon as possible
06:40in case he is running out of fuel
06:45the crew is still more than 700 miles away
06:48from their original destination edmonton
06:50alberta the nearest major airport
06:53is winnipeg manitoba
06:54a mere 120 miles away
06:58we're showing lots of fuel on board
06:59our flight management computer
07:01and three normal fuel checks
07:03cross-checked with our fuel on our flight plan
07:05so we elected to divert the flight to winnipeg
07:09where air canada has a main maintenance base
07:12winnipeg center
07:13air canada 143
07:15air canada 143 go ahead
07:29take position
07:30direct winnipeg
07:31we're cleared to maintain 6000 descent
07:33your discretion
07:34send us 6000 his discretion
07:37and that was it
07:38he didn't tell us what the problem was
07:40and that's none of my business
07:42give him what he wants
07:44get everybody out of his way
07:45that's about what we do
07:46okay we're out of 410
07:49pearson now begins to descend
07:51from 41 000 feet
07:56oh man
07:57we're all going out hey
07:58the low pressure warnings are spreading
08:01to more and more of the fuel pumps
08:12quintel instructs the cabin crew to prepare
08:15for an emergency landing
08:17hello cabin
08:18we think we have problems with our fuel system
08:21we are diverting to winnipeg
08:28all flight attendants to front galley please
08:32i hope this is just false warnings
08:35rick can you think of anything we haven't done
08:38no i can't bob
08:51okay
08:53we've lost the left engine
08:56losing an engine erases any doubt
08:58flight 143 is in fact running out of fuel
09:03okay
09:03checklist single engine landing
09:09pearson is trained to land a 767 with one engine
09:13no one has ever tried landing with none
09:19he scrambles to get his plane down
09:21so that he doesn't become the first
09:26with only one engine powering air canada flight 143
09:30and with the possibility of the other engine shutting down
09:33the crew prepares the passengers
09:35for the worst
09:40ladies and gentlemen this is your in charge
09:42flight attendant speaking
09:43due to mechanical problems we'll be preparing
09:45for an emergency landing
09:46please return to your seats and fasten your seat belts
09:50your crew is fully trained to deal with the situation
09:52and as you may have noticed some crew members
09:54have already started to prepare the aircraft
09:56i had no idea
09:58like the rest of my crew members
10:00that there was a problem with fuel
10:02i had no idea
10:05why we were going to winnipeg
10:09approach and landing
10:10flaps will be 20
10:12ground flap override
10:14as they're doing that drill
10:16the right hand fuel
10:18pump low pressure light
10:20was flashing as well
10:22much like it did on the left
10:24they were quite busy carrying out
10:27the first engine out
10:28not watching the pump lights
10:31which was right at my
10:32eyebrow so i kind of knew that
10:35that one there was going to shut down too
10:40what was that
10:48very shortly we will begin giving you instructions
10:59how come i have no instruments
11:02our beautiful colored engine and flight instrument displays
11:07simply went black
11:09it's exactly what pearson had feared
11:12he's lost both engines
11:14at 26 500 feet
11:17still 75 miles
11:19from the nearest major airport
11:20he's out of fuel
11:22winnipeg air canada 143
11:24air canada 143 go ahead
11:26just lost both engines
11:27when both engines
11:30shut off
11:31i think you said holy
11:34i'm talking to a dead man
11:38one foot we just lost their engines
11:42it's highly unlikely
11:43that anybody's going to survive this
11:46because i could see them
11:48trying to make a turn
11:49and spinning in
11:51an airplane's engines
11:53not only provide thrust
11:54they also generate the power needed
11:57to manipulate the plane
11:59it would be completely uncontrollable
12:02but modern airliners are like a swiss army knife
12:04with one last blade
12:06hidden away
12:06in the event of a loss of power
12:09they automatically deploy the rat
12:12or ram air turbine
12:15it's spring loaded
12:16it's spring loaded
12:17and the propeller that drives this small
12:19hydraulic pump is about the size
12:21of a propeller you would see like on a little
12:23Cessna 150
12:24and this arm
12:27catapults down into the slipstream
12:29this propeller starts to turn
12:31drives this hydraulic pump
12:33and it gives you basic systems
12:39I was pretty quiet
12:41flying without motors
12:43Pearson knows that time is running out
12:46he needs directions to the closest landing strip
12:50143 this is a mayday
12:52and we require vector on to the closest available runway
12:56143 we copied that all okay
12:58but the loss of the plane's engines
13:00has had an unexpected consequence
13:02at air traffic control
13:05they're gone
13:07they were right here
13:08we've lost him he's dropped off the screen
13:11I need primary radar
13:19143 we've lost your transponder return
13:22and are attempting to pick up your target now
13:25we work on transponders
13:26it's called secondary radar
13:28we take the pilot's signal
13:31to paint the aircraft
13:39commercial jetliners
13:41are equipped with a transponder
13:42a device that transmits coded information
13:44which air traffic controllers use
13:46to determine the plane's location
13:48but when flight 143
13:50lost its second engine
13:52only a small number of items got backup power
13:55the transponder was not one of them
13:57so the plane disappeared
13:59from Hewitt's screen
14:01flight 143 is somewhere east of Winnipeg
14:04but no one knows exactly where
14:05or how far it is from the airport
14:07in spite of its enormous weight
14:10a 767 doesn't plunge from the sky
14:12when it loses its engines
14:13its aerodynamic properties
14:15keep it in the air
14:16but slowly coasting to earth
14:18and I was trying to figure
14:22how many miles
14:24we were moving ahead
14:26versus how many thousands of feet
14:29we were dropping
14:32but Quintel doesn't have the instruments
14:35which provide the information
14:36he needs to make that calculation
14:39since he lost the plane's signal
14:41Hewitt can't give Quintel
14:42that information either
14:44controllers hurriedly work
14:45to rig up a way to find the plane
14:50just before landing
14:51you will hear the command
14:52brace for landing
14:53brace immediately
14:55and stay braced
14:56until the plane comes to a complete stop
14:58there are two ways to brace
15:00one
15:01bend forward
15:02raise your arms and hands
15:05against the seat
15:05Bryce Bell is a businessman
15:07on his way home to Edmonton
15:09as soon as they announced
15:11that we were making
15:11an unscheduled stop
15:13in Winnipeg
15:14I immediately wished
15:15I hadn't had the two drinks
15:16that I'd had
15:17because I thought
15:18you're going to have a split second here
15:19and this plane's going to explode in flame
15:22and the decision you make
15:24in that split second
15:24will depend on how alert you are
15:27I think that's him
15:29let's say that's him
15:33because their modern equipment
15:34can't see Air Canada 143
15:37the controllers switch to old-fashioned radar
15:39which doesn't need a transponder
15:41to locate planes
15:42I've got to turn up my true radar
15:44the reflective radar
15:46which is not nearly as good
15:49and we don't use it at all
15:50if we can help it
15:54ok
15:54I got it
15:5565 from Winnipeg
15:5745 from Gimli
15:59143
16:00we have you at 65 miles from Winnipeg
16:03and approximately 45 miles from Gimli
16:06for the first time since losing power
16:08the pilots know their distance to Winnipeg
16:12we might make Winnipeg
16:16Quintel however thinks that Gimli
16:18is a safer bet
16:22Gimli, Manitoba
16:23has a decommissioned Air Force base
16:25it's about 20 miles closer than Winnipeg
16:29as luck would have it
16:30Maurice Quintel trained at Gimli
16:32while in the armed forces
16:33he knows it well
16:3845 miles to Gimli
16:41that is a long runway
16:44is there emergency equipment at Gimli?
16:48negative emergency equipment at all
16:50just one runway available I believe
16:53and no control tower
16:55and no information on it
16:56Pearson must consider the possibility
16:58of a crash landing
16:59if he has any chance of making it to Winnipeg
17:03which has full emergency support
17:04he knows he must try for it
17:06ok then we would prefer Winnipeg
17:11fine
17:12143 continue your present heading
17:15it was about regrets
17:17it was about things I hadn't done in my life
17:19it was about ways I've treated the odd person here or there
17:21that I wish I'd treated more gently
17:23it was about how stupid I was
17:26and some of the things I used to make big issues out of
17:27that are so insignificant
17:29when it really comes down to what real reality is about
17:32it was pretty devastating
17:35and I remember telling a mother with a baby
17:39and I had
17:48my daughter Victoria
17:51and telling this woman
17:53that it was going to be ok
17:54and I did it
17:55I did
17:56I was so proud of myself
17:57that I could be so straight with her
18:00and tell her that it was going to be alright
18:02and really look at her in the eyes
18:06ok and how far from the field are we now?
18:08your 35
18:10correction
18:11make that 39 miles from Winnipeg
18:13roger
18:15now that controllers can see flight 143 on radar
18:18they can provide Kintel with the information he needs
18:21to figure out if he can glide as far as Winnipeg
18:23roger what is your altitude now?
18:258.5
18:268.5
18:27about 8500 feet above the ground
18:30Captain Pearson can see his destination
18:33Winnipeg's airport is less than 35 miles away
18:36we're visual
18:37but the news from Kintel is not good
18:40Bob
18:43Morris was calmly keeping track of our distance
18:47by input from Winnipeg air traffic control
18:51and our altitude
18:52and calculated our profile
18:55and came to the conclusion
18:56that we might not make the runway in Winnipeg
18:59we can last maybe another 20 miles
19:01we're not going to make Winnipeg
19:04Kintel has calculated that at the rate they're falling
19:07they would hit the ground a full 15 miles short of the runway
19:10Uh, how far are we from Gimli?
19:16You're approximately 12 miles from Gimli right now
19:19Uh, where is it?
19:23Which way is he moving?
19:26On your right
19:27Turn right to a heading of, uh, 3, 4, 5
19:32I would say you have 10 miles to fly
19:33Okay, fine
19:36We're gonna go there
19:38I'm gonna go check on my family
19:40You guys don't need me up here right now, huh?
19:43No, no, we're okay
19:52Don't worry about everything's okay
19:53They got it under control
19:54So make sure your seatbelts are tight, alright?
20:01When I went, finally, to sit down in my seat
20:04This is where I thought
20:07Wow, you know, um, this is it
20:21Landing gear down
20:22Roger
20:23First officer Kintel lowers the landing gear
20:26Because there's no hydraulic power
20:28Kintel does what's known as a gravity drop
20:31Letting the gear's own weight drop and lock it into place
20:35The two main gear are heavy
20:36They fall immediately
20:37And two green lights confirm they've locked
20:40But the nose gear is lighter
20:42It doesn't lock
20:44We could hear the main gear clearly
20:47Uh, falling and locking
20:48I was not aware the nose gear was, was not down and locked
20:53It was sort of the last minute
20:55And, uh, if it's something that you cannot control
20:59You don't talk about it, you don't mention it, you know
21:02The main thing was bring the aircraft on the runway
21:07Five miles to touchdown
21:08Roger
21:09We have the field in sight
21:12Five miles from Gimli
21:13Pearson and Kintel finally see a runway they can land on
21:17But there's a problem
21:19We're too close, huh?
21:21It's going to be too steep, too fast
21:23Yeah, I know
21:27Pearson is almost at the runway, but he's much too high above it
21:31If he comes down at a normal descent rate, he'll miss the landing strip
21:34But if he comes down steeply, his plane will gather a dangerous amount of speed
21:39He won't be able to stop before the end of the runway
21:43The normal approach, we have leading edge and trailing edge flaps
21:48Which allow us to slow the airplane down and fly at a slower speed safely
21:53We did not have those flaps as they run off the main hydraulic system
21:58So what are we going to do?
22:00So we discuss, we have two possibilities
22:03One of them was to do a 360 degree turn
22:07And lose the excessive altitude
22:12On the other hand, I thought it would take about three minutes
22:16And we were already descending at the rate of 2,500 feet a minute
22:21Only about 3,000 feet above the ground
22:24The plane doesn't have enough altitude to make a full circle
22:27It would hit the ground before making it back to the landing strip
22:30Pearson chooses a second option
22:33Well, I guess I'll just slip it
22:40Pearson decides to try a maneuver called a side slip
22:43Practically unheard of on commercial airliners
22:46But sometimes used by glider pilots
22:48And Bob Pearson has a lot of experience flying gliders
22:52I'm just going to slip it down until we're almost done at the runway
22:55And I'll straighten it out
22:57Okay
22:58Side slipping involves what's known as crossing the controls
23:01Here we go
23:03Pearson plans to force the aircraft into a sideways freefall
23:07Allowing it to drop quickly without increasing its forward airspeed
23:12Pearson has never actually performed a side slip in a glider
23:15But he's attempting one now in a Boeing 767
23:19The only way that I could control our speed and our descent profile with the runway
23:26Was to induce drag in the fuselage
23:28By cross controlling the rudder and the elevators on the tail
23:32And the ailerons on the wingtips
23:34And cause the aircraft into a crab configuration
23:39Then I could vary that to increase or decrease our speed
23:44Or increase or decrease our descent rate
23:47Pearson controls the plane's descent by using his rudders and ailerons to change the angle of the plane
23:53Crossing the controls involves tipping the wings in one direction
23:57But turning the aircraft in the opposite direction
24:00Pushing it sideways into the oncoming air
24:04As flight 143 begins to drop towards the Earth
24:07Quintel is about to discover something he did not expect
24:11The runway he trained at 15 years ago
24:20Is no longer a runway
24:26Captain Bob Pearson is out of fuel
24:29Out of engines
24:30Out of options
24:32If he can't line up with the runway at Gimli
24:35He doesn't get a second chance
24:43Pearson turns the yoke left
24:45And pushes the rudders to the right
24:47The plane slips
24:50To its left
24:55We're sitting in the center which is the heart of the airplane where it starts
24:58So it's pretty solid there
25:00I thought there's a real good chance here that we'll be alright
25:06However when he put the airplane into a side slip
25:10All that went out the window because I figured
25:12If he hits a wing or something and starts to catapult and roll
25:17That's not going to work anymore
25:18The 767 loses altitude quickly
25:21Plowing sideways through the air
25:23When I looked to the left of the aircraft
25:27I was looking directly at the ground
25:31Because the airplane is
25:33Angled quite
25:35About maybe 60 degrees of banks
25:37The bank angle was quite high
25:39And the nose of the aircraft was quite high
25:43And it was an awkward moment
25:45And if it was awkward for me
25:48I can imagine for the passengers
25:51It must really have felt a lot
25:53I saw a sand trap from this golf course
25:56And I thought we're going to crash
26:00Pearson must maintain a crucial balance
26:03He's got to slow the plane enough to be able to land safely
26:06But if he slows down too much
26:08The airliner could lose its lift and plummet to the ground
26:12When a pilot is normally landing an airplane
26:15He's maneuvering the flight controls
26:17And operating the thrust levers
26:20Pretty continuously on most landings
26:23And so I was doing the same thing
26:25Without the thrust levers
26:30This is where I thought of my daughter Victoria
26:33Being alone with my husband
26:36And how he was going to cope with our daughter
26:42And how she was going to cope without having a mom
26:47As they approach
26:48Pearson focuses on his target
26:50The threshold of the runway
26:52I got tunnel vision
26:54Like I've never had it before
26:56It was just our speed
26:59And our relationship with the threshold of the runway
27:02But now, only hundreds of feet from the ground
27:05Kintel sees that their troubles are far from over
27:11The Gimli landing strip has been converted
27:14Into a drag racing strip
27:24Today is Saturday
27:25And it's not just a race day
27:28It's a family day on the Gimli strip
27:32Racing is done for the day
27:34But the airfield is filled with members of the local sports car club
27:40Camping out with their families for the weekend
27:48Two children have decided to pedal the length of the runway
27:53They don't hear the plane coming for them
27:56Without engines, it's silent
27:58And one thing the 767 doesn't have
28:02Is a horn
28:03Brace! Brace for landing!
28:16The nose hit with quite a bang on the runway
28:18It sounded like a shotgun going off at our feet
28:21The front landing gear gives out immediately
28:23Pearson brakes hard
28:25Two tires blow out
28:28The bottom of the right engine scrapes the runway
28:31I was a robot
28:32There was just no emotion at all
28:35Finally, Pearson sees what's in their path
28:37I looked up and I could see two boys on bicycles
28:41They must have been probably about a thousand feet down the runway
28:44From our position when I saw them
28:46And then at one point I could see he raised his head
28:50And he's surprised
28:52Here's this big aircraft
28:54I can still remember the look of terror on their faces
28:57So they were close enough for me to see that
29:02With no nose gear to steer with
29:05Pearson's only hope of driving the plane left or right
29:07Is by varying the brake pressure on the two main landing gear
29:12That's when my heart started to pitter-patter a little bit
29:16The kids panic and try to outrun a plane that's traveling about 200 miles an hour
29:21I knew I couldn't take the airplane into these buoys
29:24And I was going to take it off into the grass on the right side
29:28There were campers along the west side of the runway
29:32That I didn't notice until after we'd touched down
29:36And the nose was on the ground
29:38And I can still remember at the left side
29:41People standing by their barbecues
29:43Dino Calvert is at the track with his friends for a weekend of racing
29:48One of the gentlemen in the pits suddenly jumped in his car and he took off
29:52And I thought, well, you don't drive like that in the pits usually
29:57And I looked up and all I could see was smoke rising
30:01Pearson does all he can to stop the plane in time
30:04Holy crow!
30:12The plane plows into a guardrail installed down the middle of the runway
30:16Smoke, Bob!
30:26Seventeen minutes after running out of fuel
30:29Air Canada Flight 143 comes to a final stop on the ground
30:33Yeah? You okay?
30:36Somebody yelled yahoo or something
30:38And then people started applauding
30:40And we were so grateful
30:41We made it
30:43When you believe that you're going to crash
30:46You do believe that the airplane is going to break apart
30:50You're going to have fire
30:53Evacuate! Evacuate!
30:55Evacuate!
30:56All right, let's go, we gotta get up
30:57Thick smoke is quickly filling the cabin
30:59The crew doesn't take any chances
31:01They want everyone off the plane as quickly as possible
31:05There was a sense of joy
31:06And then a panic kind of
31:08It seemed to go in waves
31:10And then a panic saying, we gotta get out of here
31:11We gotta get out of here
31:13Less than two months earlier
31:15An Air Canada DC-9 made a successful emergency landing in Cincinnati
31:20Only to burst into flames on the tarmac before all the passengers could get off
31:2523 people died
31:27The crew and passengers of this flight want to avoid a similar fate
31:32It took maybe just a few seconds to come up to a full halt on the runway
31:38But the cockpit was full of smoke
31:42Passenger evacuation checklist
31:43Passenger checklist
31:45Fuel shut off
31:47Off
31:48Cabin, pressurize
31:50Electric's off
31:51Electric's off
31:52Checklist complete
31:53Time to get out of here
32:00Come on guys, get some fire extinguishers
32:02We grabbed the fire extinguishers on our way
32:04And you never go to a fire at a racetrack without having a fire extinguisher with you
32:10And we ran up towards it
32:12The doors open up and you see the chutes come out
32:15Sort of like a spider growing legs
32:17The plane ended up eventually standing almost what appeared to me to be almost on its nose
32:24When I opened my door and I saw that the chute was so steep
32:28I thought, oh my goodness, how would I get these passages to go down?
32:33Due to the nose down angle of the plane, the two rear slides don't reach the ground
32:42Ten people are slightly injured during the evacuation
32:45Most of them coming down the steep rear slides
32:48I heard on the west radar frequency
32:51He said one of the 767 says
32:55He's down okay
32:56He's in one piece
32:58And that's when our cheer went up
33:04I said okay
33:07Because all of these people were going to sleep in their own bed that night
33:19There's still a lot of smoke coming from the plane's nose
33:25Turned out it was about 6 inches of insulation between the inner and outer skin
33:30From friction that was starting to burn
33:33The flight attendants have good news
33:35All 61 passengers have made it off the plane
33:38There's not so much as a single serious injury
33:41Come on, give me a hand
33:43Yeah, the extinguisher
33:50Bob Pearson has done what no one has done before
33:53He's safely landed a 767 with no engines
33:57Gliding to safety for more than 26,000 feet
34:09Air Canada flight 143
34:11The event makes international headlines immediately
34:14People are already asking how one of the most sophisticated passenger planes in the world
34:19Could have run out of fuel
34:21Sliding down emergency chutes
34:27By the next day the investigation has already begun
34:30Bill Taylor and Diane Rochelot of Canada's Aviation Safety Bureau are among the first investigators at the scene
34:38I was a junior mechanical engineering at the time
34:41I had been working for Transport Canada for a year
34:43Going to the field for the first time was very exciting
34:46It was new, it was a major aircraft
34:50Once we got into the fuel quantity indicating system
34:54I actually left Diane to deal with the specifics of the computer system
35:01First, Bill Taylor needs to confirm what everyone has been telling him
35:06That the plane is out of fuel
35:10Investigators drain the tanks, collecting less than 17 gallons of fuel
35:14The 767 can hold almost 24,000 gallons
35:20It's like having five tablespoons of fuel in a mid-sized car
35:25Taylor next needs to examine the possibility that the fuel leaked out during the flight
35:29The other checks involved looking for any evidence of fuel having been lost
35:35They even went so far as to go into what they call the dry bay of the aircraft
35:41I'm a bit claustrophobic, so I really wasn't too enthused about going up in there
35:47But I crawled up and had a look around with the flashlight
35:50And confirmed that there was no evidence of fuel having been lost in there
35:56That leaves Taylor with only one conclusion
35:58Flight 143 took off without enough fuel
36:01Now investigators need to find out why
36:04It's in one piece
36:06Diane Rochelot begins looking for the answer to that question
36:10In the plane's sophisticated electronics bay
36:13Located beneath the cabin
36:14The 767 was a newer type aircraft
36:18And it did have a lot of computerized system
36:21And I guess back in 1982
36:23These were coming onto the market at a fast rate
36:26And they were newer types of electronic system
36:32Rochelot confirms that a computerized unit
36:35The digital fuel gauge processor
36:37Had been malfunctioning on this plane
36:39There was no spare in Montreal
36:42So it couldn't be replaced
36:45Rochelot takes the component for testing
36:47It was decided early on that the unit, the fuel processing unit
36:51Would be taken to the manufacturer Honeywell in Indianapolis
36:55For testing
36:56And I was tasked with taking the unit
36:59So we went through all the testing procedure
37:02And then at one point we did discover
37:04That there was a malfunction with the unit
37:07During the testing we went more and more in depth
37:09And we found out that one of the circuit
37:12It's called an inductor coil
37:14It was a very, very small part
37:16And it was encapsulated at manufacturer
37:19And encapsulated means it's covered with plastic
37:21You cannot visually see it
37:23Because it's now covered with plastic
37:24And you can't see the inductor coil itself
37:28But once we took over the plastic case
37:30We could see that the solder joint had not been made properly
37:33Which caused a malfunction in the system
37:38The faulty processor explains why Pearson didn't have fuel gauges for the flight
37:43But doesn't explain why he didn't have enough fuel
37:47The inoperative gauges were clearly flagged
37:51Ground crews wouldn't have relied on them when they were fueling the plane
37:56Investigators confirmed that the ground crew did perform a manual check of the fuel before takeoff
38:03We just need to know what you did next
38:05Yeah? We did a manual check of both tanks
38:10And then we pump enough fuel for the trip to end
38:14Flight 143 should have taken off with enough fuel for the trip
38:17Okay, thanks
38:21That helps
38:31Investigators now have to figure out how one of the world's most advanced jetliners
38:37Took off with half the fuel necessary for its flight
38:44The investigators know that with its fuel gauges out of service
38:47Flight 143's fuel tanks were checked manually
38:51Then the fuel for the trip to Edmonton was added to the tanks
39:00But before the plane could be given more fuel
39:03A crucial calculation had to be carried out
39:09Pilots need to know the weight of the fuel on their plane
39:14But fuel trucks pump jet fuel by volume
39:22In order for pilots and fuelers to communicate
39:25A simple routine translation between volume and weight has to be made
39:34Thank you
39:44Investigators check and double check that math
39:54The fueling records from the day of the accident provide the answers they've been looking for
40:05This is a typical fueling record
40:07But when investigators examine the calculations for Flight 143
40:12And this is from Flight 143
40:16They look anything but straightforward
40:19The document clearly shows the amount of fuel in the right and left tanks
40:24But investigators are troubled by two particular numbers
40:28One converts volume to kilograms
40:30The other converts it to pounds
40:33He shouldn't have been using both
40:39So did you convert to pounds or to kilograms?
40:43To pound?
40:46Oh, to kilo
40:51Can I see that again?
40:53Further interviews with the technicians and crew reveal that the events on Flight 143
41:00And now I don't know what I did
41:02Were caused by human error involving poor calculations and ultimately inadequate training
41:09Okay, fellas, we've finished with the fuel
41:12The technicians refueling Flight 143 got muddled in their calculations
41:16While converting the volume coming out of the fuel truck to the weight of the fuel in the plane's tanks
41:23No one who saw the calculations that day noticed the basic error
41:32In 1983, Canadian ground crews were used to converting the amount of fuel leaving their trucks into pounds
41:41The 767 was the first plane in Air Canada's fleet to have metric fuel gauges
41:51Its fuel should have been measured not in pounds, but in kilograms, which requires a different calculation
42:00Flight 143 needed 22,300 kilograms of fuel for the trip
42:05But pilots and technicians let it leave with 22,300 pounds instead
42:13Because a pound is about half a kilogram, the plane only got half the fuel it required
42:18Which explains why Pearson's flight computer told him he had plenty of fuel
42:23He entered the wrong amount of fuel to start with
42:25In the past the flight engineer calculated the fuel loads
42:30This accident raised an important question
42:32Whose job was it with the two-man crew?
42:36Better training is definitely an issue in an incident such as that
42:42If everyone is trained and the lines are drawn as to who's responsible for what
42:52Then there's no ambiguity on it
42:56People know what they're responsible for
42:59In this case, it was sort of open-ended
43:02We weren't aware who was responsible for the final say on this field stuff
43:10A subsequent inquiry found that none of those involved that day was trained in metric calculations
43:16Not the ground technicians, not the pilots
43:21I had not received any, neither of us had received any training at all
43:27On doing these calculations
43:30The computer that had replaced the 767's flight engineer was broken
43:34And no one knew who should be doing its job
43:37Air Canada 143 was essentially down a man
43:40And the goal is to prevent a recurrence of this particular event
43:45And also we also find out other systems that might have been either at fault
43:50Or maybe they could cause a problem in the future
43:53And you do try to prevent a recurrence
43:59All right
44:00It took a string of mechanical and human failures for flight 143 to run out of fuel
44:07But another failure that day may have saved some lives
44:12If the plane's nose gear had not collapsed, it would have taken Pearson much longer to stop
44:17The plane could have slid into the people who were at the strip that day
44:22Which would have had catastrophic results
44:24There could have been more injuries or even loss of life
44:31Pearson and Quintel were partly blamed for their roles in the incident
44:35A government inquiry recommended that Air Canada re-evaluate the training of flight crews and ground technicians in metric fuel
44:43conversions
44:44It also recommended that the airline keep more spare parts, such as fuel gauge processors
44:52Rick Dion retired in 2003 after a long career as Air Canada's coordinator of maintenance control
45:00First officer Maurice Quintel was promoted to captain in 1989
45:05Captain Bob Pearson went on to fly 10 more years for Air Canada
45:09His experience at Gimli shaping the rest of his career as a commercial pilot
45:13This experience affected me mostly by giving me, making me more relaxed as a pilot
45:20Giving me the feeling that as much as I've trained for all those years
45:25That there's always that question about how you're going to perform when the chips are down
45:30And I now have the feeling that no matter what, as long as an aircraft stay together
45:35I would get it safely back on the ground
45:36And so it's been a relaxing experience
45:41It's the knowledge that you know under stress you can perform
45:46Before that you don't know
45:48You just hope you will
45:49And you train, you train for it
45:51But you never know
45:53With the things that they had to deal with
45:56It was magnificent
45:57I think that got proven in the simulator in Vancouver
46:01They tried out this same circumstances with several crews
46:06And they all crashed
46:09Probably the most important thing that came out of it
46:12Was the realization that when something new is introduced
46:17Special attention and training needs to be accomplished
46:22For people to be aware what they're dealing with
46:25When we had landed and the airplane was all in one piece
46:29I thought, wow, I got another chance
46:32To fly again
46:33Because of a tragedy like that, once you take your deck of cards and fire it in the air
46:37You're truly free
46:39And I guess from that point of view, Gimli could
46:42I find it very difficult to say
46:43But Gimli was maybe almost the best thing that ever happened to me
46:47Next to meeting my wonderful wife and marrying her
46:51Two days after the landing at Gimli
46:53Air Canada's 767 was back in the air on its way to Winnipeg for repairs
46:59A quarter century later, that same plane is still in service
47:04And it still carries the nickname that Bob Pearson earned it
47:07The Gimli Glider
47:28F
47:29You