July 23, 1983 an Air Canada 767 ran out of fuel and attempted to land at the Gimli Air Force base, what they didn't know was that the base had been closed and the runway converted to a recreational center, including auto and go-cart racing.
It was the “Family Day” for the Winnipeg Sports Car Club: “Go-cart races were being held on one portion of runway 32L and just past the dragstrip another portion of the runway served as the final straightaway for a road course. Around the edges of the straightaway were cars, campers, kids and families in abundance…”
When the plane touched down the nose wheel collapsed and it skidded down a guard rail installed in the middle of the runway during the race track conversion.
The pilots stood on the brakes and she came to a halt, blowing two tires in the process. What could have been a major disaster ended with only 10 minor injuries to people using the emergency slides.
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1897961836958919&set=gm.2033943823293821&type=3&permPage=1
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gimli_Glider
https://dailytimewaster.blogspot.com/2014/05/that-time-commercial-aircraft-ran-out.html
It ran out of fuel because Canada had just switched from Imperial to Metric measurements, and the pilots forgot to make the conversion before loading the fuel. As a result they didn't fill up.
ReplyDeleteNo way! Seriously? Or are you kidding me?
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