In 1983, Air Canada Flight 143 ran out of fuel mid-air — 26,000 feet above the ground.
Both engines failed.
The plane became a silent glider.
What followed was one of the greatest miracles in aviation history.
Captain Robert Pearson and his crew had just 15 minutes to save 69 lives — without power, without hydraulics, and without hope.
This is the unbelievable true story of The Gimli Glider —
The Pilot Who Landed a Plane Without Engines.
🎥 Watch the full documentary-style story on NNC LEGENDS,
where true stories never die.The Gimli Glider story\
It was July 23, 1983.
Flight 143, an Air Canada Boeing 767, prepared for a routine trip from Montreal to Edmonton.
On board were 61 passengers, 8 crew members, and two experienced pilots — Captain Robert Pearson and First Officer Maurice Quintal.
The weather was calm. The skies were clear.
Nothing could have warned them that within an hour… they would be flying a plane with no engines.
At 41,000 feet, over Manitoba, Captain Pearson noticed something strange — the fuel gauges were showing empty.
But that was impossible. The plane had been refueled before takeoff.
Or so they thought.
Moments later, the first engine coughed — and died.
The cockpit went quiet.
Then, 30 seconds later — the second engine failed.
The Boeing 767 had lost all power.
No thrust. No hydraulics. No electronics.
The plane… was now a 132-ton glider, falling silently through the sky.
The passengers had no idea what was happening.
The lights went out. The air became still.
The hum of engines — gone.
Only the sound of the wind… rushing past the metal wings.
In the cockpit, alarms screamed.
Captain Pearson and First Officer Quintal stared at each other — realizing the unthinkable:
They were flying a powerless aircraft.
Every pilot is trained for engine failure — but not for losing both engines at once.
Panic could have taken over.
But Pearson stayed calm.
A veteran glider pilot in his spare time — he knew that gliders could still be controlled by managing airspeed and descent angle.
So, he took a deep breath and said the words that became legend:
“Okay, let’s glide her home.”
Quintal began calculating:
Without power, they could glide only 12 miles for every 1,000 feet of altitude.
They were 26,000 feet above the ground.
They had maybe 15 minutes to live.
They radioed air traffic control — but with no power, the transmission was weak.
Nearby airports were too far.
But then, Quintal remembered something…
Years ago, he had served as a pilot at an abandoned air force base in Gimli, Manitoba.
It had a long runway — now converted into a car racing track.
It was risky. There were people on the ground. Cars. Families.
But it was their only chance.
Pearson lined up the aircraft with the Gimli runway.
No engines. No flaps. No landing gear pressure.
The cockpit became a silent chamber of focus.
Every second counted. Every move mattered.
As they approached, the landing gear jammed.
The nose wheel refused to lock.
The passengers braced for impact.
Some prayed. Some cried.
Others just held on.
The Boeing came in too fast, too steep.
Pearson used every ounce of gliding experience — side-slipping the aircraft to reduce speed.
Then, with a massive thud, Flight 143 hit the runway — hard.
The nose collapsed. Sparks flew.
The aircraft skidded, metal screaming across the concrete.
Children playing nearby ran for their lives as the massive jet slid toward them — but stopped just short.
And then… silence again.
No explosion. No fire.
Everyone… was alive.
When rescuers arrived, they couldn’t believe it.
The jet had glided more than 80 miles without a single drop of power — and landed safely.
The cause?
A simple metric conversion error.
Fuel had been loaded in pounds instead of kilograms.
The press called it “The Gimli Glider.”
And Captain Pearson? He became a legend — not just for his skill, but for his calm courage in the face of impossible odds.
Today, the story of the Gimli Glider is taught to pilots around the world.
It’s a lesson in human focus — in staying calm when machines fail, and believing in what you know when everything else is uncertain.
Captain Pearson never called himself a hero.
He once said:
“We just did what we had to do. And we were lucky.”
But the world remembers him as more than lucky.
He was the man who landed a plane… without engines.
This was the incredible true story of Air Canada Flight 143 — The Gimli Glider.
You were watching NNC LEGENDS —
where true stories never die.
