Captain Bob Pearson Two airline pilots experience a sudden loss of power in the two engines of their airliner due to a fuel pump failure and...
Captain Bob Pearson Two airline pilots experience a sudden loss of power in the two engines of their airliner due to a fuel pump failure and end up crashing shortly afterwards, albeit in a flight simulator. In complete disbelief that such a scenario could ever happen in real life, they protest to the examiner. He tells them that "It isn't a dream. It happened."([Note 1]) A few years earlier, on July 23, 1983, at Dorval Airport in Montreal, the ground crew of Canada World Airways struggles to convert gallons into liters and pounds into kilograms, as they prepare to refuel a brand-new Boeing 767 bound for Edmonton. This is the first aircraft in the fleet to use the metric systemand they are about to make a terrible conversion mistake. Meanwhile, Beth Pearson (Mariette Hartley) drives her husband, Captain Robert Pearson (William Devane), to the airport, unusually anxious about hosting her in-laws later that day. Elsewhere in Montréal, First Officer Maurice Quintal (Scott Hylands) reluctantly agrees to cover for an injured colleague, leaving behind his sick wife. The two airmen feel uneasy about their 767 having an inoperative fuel gauge, but are somewhat reassured to see the ground crew measuring the quantity of fuel in the tanks: 20,345 kg, or so they believe, enough to take them to Vancouver. Their Flight Management Computer will constantly indicate the quantity on board. After a delay, the passengers board flight 174, including Rick Dion (Winston Rekert), the airline's chief mechanic, as well as his wife and three-year-old boy. After takeoff, Dion visits Pearson on the flight deck. Their conversation is suddenly interrupted by a series of beeps indicating a failure with one of the fuel pumps. After activating the cross-feeding valve between the tanks, the alarm stops. Later, another fuel pump fails. Quintal revises the notepad used by the ground crew in Montréal and discovers they loaded 20,345 pounds (instead of kilograms) of fuel, less than half what they should have. Pearson decides to divert to Winnipeg. The 767 is still far from that major airport, when suddenly, an alarm sounds, indicating they are out of fuel. It is followed by the failure of the two engines, and the complete shutdown of the instruments. Fortunately, a ram air turbine kicks in and provides limited power to the instruments. The aircraft has become a giantglider. The passengers face what they believe are their last moments alive. Luckily, Pearson is a former glider pilot. Quintal suddenly remembers a closer airfield in Gimli and the crew decide to try to land there instead of attempting to reach Winnipeg or land in water. Unknown to them, the airfield's abandoned runway is occupied by race cars and young cyclists, which they have to dodge. The nose landing gear collapses, yet the aircraft stops within a few meters of the end of the runway. Everyone survives... Less
