Gimli honours 25th anniversary of landing

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 19/07/2008 (6378 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Twenty-five years after the Gimli Glider silently coasted onto a defunct runway after running out of gas, the plane’s captain will finally meet the boys forced to dash out of the way.

On Wednesday — which marks the 25th anniversary of the famous unscheduled landing in Gimli — Capt. Bob Pearson will meet the boys, now men, who were riding their bikes on the runway as he completed the remarkable descent.

The Air Canada Boeing 767 jet ran out of fuel near the Manitoba-Ontario border on its way from Ottawa to Edmonton.

As it dawned on the flight crew that they wouldn’t make it to Winnipeg, First Officer Maurice Quintal suggested landing at Gimli’s old airforce base where he once served. They glided the plane in safely onto the old runway — then being used as a drag racing strip — causing only minor damage to the passenger jet.

Pearson recalled Friday that seeing the youngsters quickly approaching on the runway was the first time during the entire near-disaster that he became emotional. He thought the huge aircraft would run them over.

“I thought, ‘I can’t take the airplane into them. I just won’t do it,'” Pearson said. “I can still remember the look on their faces. They looked terrified.”

After 25 years of service, the Gimli Glider was flown from Montreal to the Mojave Airport where it was officially retired in January.

Pearson doesn’t remember what the boys look like, but he will never forget the terror he saw on their faces, he said.

“What were you thinking of when you first saw us sliding on our nose? Did it make your knees a little weak and what has been the effect since?” Pearson asked. “I want to ask them how they slept after that experience.”

Art Zuke was 14 years old when he was frozen like a deer in headlights as the plane landed 200 feet short of him. He’s amazed that Pearson and Quintal managed to save the lives of the 61 passengers and eight crew members.

“I’ll thank Captain Pearson for saving us all,” said Zuke, who will meet the crew next week. “If it wasn’t for his skills in that cockpit, none of us would have made it.”

Pearson and Quintal are coming back to meet the boys and for a surprise the Gimli Art Club has in store. Artist Dave McNabb has painted a seawall mural, which will be dedicated to the flight crew when it is unveiled July 23.

meghan.hurley@freepress.mb.ca