Urban Legend

[MiloMorai]

If the Americans produced a/c that didn't use archaic units of measurement, there would have been no problem in the first place.

The tv program 'Mayday' did a Gimli Glider show.
http://watch.discoverychannel.ca/mayday/season-5/mayday-gimli-glider/

[avionix]

Maybe the rest of the world has it messed up.   

[Kev367th]

Better one -
Air Transat Flight 236, Aug 4th 2001 - Airbus A330 Enroute Toronto to Lisbon.

Ran out of fuel due to a fuel leak over the Atlantic, had to make an emergency 'landing' in the Azores after gliding for an estimated 65-85nm, over 30 minutes.
I believe it is still the record for the longest recorded glide for a civilian jet airliner.


OR

What happens when your 747 loses an engine (flameout) and you dont follow procedures?

Air China Flight 006, Feb 19th 1985 - B747 Enroute Taipei to LAX
You go into a slow aileron roll while diving reaching 5g's in the process.

Damage to empennage.


Simulayion of incident

[Paxil]

At one time I lived (years later) on the site of a DC-8 crash in Portland Oregon (10 people died). I was very young then and we lived a few miles away at the time... remember seeing the tops of trees knocked off.

From:
http://mattcampsblog.blogspot.com/2007/08/1978-portland-plane-crash.html

When the landing gear was lowered, only two of the landing gear indicator lights lit up. The plane repeatedly circled in the vicinity of Portland while the crew investigated the problem. Still uncertain, the pilot decided to go around once again, against the recommendation of the co-pilot. As a result the plane ran out of fuel and crash-landed at 285 feet elevation. There were 24 serious injuries, and ten deaths.

The investigation revealed that there was, in fact, no problem with the landing gear and that the unlit indicator light bulb had burnt out. The captain had failed to monitor properly the aircraft's fuel state and to properly respond to the low fuel state and the crewmember's advisories regarding fuel state. This resulted in fuel exhaustion to all engines. His inattention resulted from preoccupation with a landing gear malfunction and preparations for a possible landing emergency. The other two flight crewmembers failed to either to fully comprehend the criticality of the fuel state or to successfully communicate their concern to the captain.