Gimli Glider parts return to area of historic landing site

Parts of a commercial plane that ran out of fuel while 41,000 feet in the air, and narrowly avoided crashing, are returning to Manitoba's Interlake area.

The story of the Gimli Glider, the Air Canada Boeing 767 that glided to a landing on an old Gimli runway, is the stuff of aviation legend.

On July 23, 1983, it looked like a critical fuel level miscalculation would cost people aboard Air Canada Flight 143 their lives. Enter: Captain Robert (Bob) Pearson.

Barb Gluck, one of several volunteers who raised $15,000 to buy parts of the scrapped plane, said Pearson is a hero.

"Some people in the aviation industry acknowledge him as the most skilled pilot for an airliner," said Gluck. "I just think it's something that has never been done since in quite the same way that he did it."

Pearson, who was previously a glider pilot in the 60s, managed to defy the odds and wrestle the 132-tonne jet liner onto a landing field abandoned by the military in the 70s.

After it was abandoned, the runways became a popular weekend car-racing spot for locals in Gimli — many of whom were surprised to see the giant plane interrupt the hotrod-fun on that day in July more than 30 years ago.

Now, bits of the famous Gimli Glider are back near the site of its most celebrated landing.

"We got the underwing fuselage panel…. We got the controls in the cockpit that mix the fuel," said Gluck. "The priority was to get something that had a direct connection to the story."

That story is, in part, a result of interesting changes occurring nationwide at the time of the landing.

Many Canadians were upset about the introduction of the metric system in the country. The federal government plowed ahead with its implementation, and Air Canada unveiled its first plane built entirely to metric system specs.

"Much more fuel efficient, quieter, more powerful," said Pearson during a 2013 interview CBC's Reg Sherren. "I bid to be on the first course in Air Canada. I was excited. I was impressed."

But there was a problem with the flight management system on Pearson's plane. "The computer was intermittently inoperative," said Pearson.

It meant fuel for the flight had to be measured and calculated manually. That caused confusion on the ground, as fuel levels didn't match up the way airport personnel in charge of fuelling had anticipated. That ultimately put Pearson under pressure to successfully make the manoeuvres he did.

Parts of the Gimli Glider can be seen for the first time in public at the Gimli Model Fest (GMF), an exhibition of radio-controlled aircraft that is being held on Sunday at GMF Field near Gimli.