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See What Happens When An Airplane Runs Out Of Fuel Mid-Air (Photos) - Travel - Nairaland

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See What Happens When An Airplane Runs Out Of Fuel Mid-Air (Photos) by Nobody: 9:39pm On Mar 21, 2019
Guess you will be wondering what happens to an airplane if fuel supply get depleted during flight way above the sky.
Airplanes don't just fall out of the sky if fuel supply finishes which causes the engine to shutdown. Airplanes can glide few miles with no engine powered on. If the airplane is high at altitude, Oxygen mask will drop off the cabin so people can breathe easily till the airplane descends a little.
When an airplane runs out of fuel the engines stop. The engines provide all the electric energy and hydraulic pressure needed for a flight, so the airplane just shutdown.

There are incidents which took place due to insufficient supply of fuel in an airplane.



Boeing 767 -233 of Air Canada also known as Gimli Glider pictured above successfully glided to emergency landing on a decommissioned runway in Gimli, Canada that had been converted to drag racing strip after losing it's whole fuel middle of the flight, the photo was taken July 23, 1983.

This was caused by a unit conversion error, Most of the world uses the metric system i.e. metres, liters etc. While a few countries e.g Liberia, Myanmar uses the imperial system of measurement i.e. gallons, pounds etc.

Canada was one of the latter countries until 1970 when the nation began to change over. Metrication (as it was called) took some time fifteen years and maybe even more. One of the industries to change over late in the process was the airline industry, which given the expense and longevity of the equipment makes sense. On July 23, 1983, Air Canada Flight 143 was one of the earlier flights using the new metric units.

Unfortunately, Air Canada was undergoing a second change at the same time — smaller flight crews. Typically, there were three core members of the crew — the pilot, the co-pilot, and a flight engineer. Flight 143, through, didn’t have a flight engineer; the pre-flight fueling protocol therefore fell to the pilots. That protocol required them to convert volume (liters) into mass (kilograms or pounds, depending on the system you use) in order to figure out how much fuel you need to add to your plane. And they did exactly what they should have done — except they got the labels wrong. Instead of figuring out how many liters the plane needed to hit the required payload of 22,300 kg, the crew calculated how many liters were needed to hit 22,300 pounds.

Instead of 22,300 kg (27,770 L) of fuel, they had 22,300 pounds (12,598 L) on board — 10,100 kg, about half the amount required to reach their destination.

Luckily, the pilot and co-pilot were better at the flying part than the math part of the job. The pilot already have ten years of glider training under his belt, and his co-pilot had trained at Gimli during his days with the Canadian Air Force — and therefore knew the surroundings quite well. Together, the pair were able to land the 767 — gliding the last 60 miles (100 km) — touching down just an hour or so before nightfall. The plane — the Gimli Glider, as it’d henceforth be known — suffered some damage to its nose and blew out some tires, as seen above, but the passengers were pretty much okay. Ten people suffered minor injuries but, miraculously, there were no fatalities.

The Aviation Safety Board of Canada reported that Air Canada management was responsible for "corporate and equipment deficiencies". Their report praised the flight and cabin crews for their "professionalism and skill". It noted that Air Canada "neglected to assign clearly and specifically the responsibility for calculating the fuel load in an abnormal situation."It further found that the airline had failed to reallocate the task of checking fuel load (which had been the responsibility of the flight engineer on older aircraft flown with a crew of three.) The safety board also said that Air Canada needed to keep more spare parts, including replacements for the defective fuel quantity indicator, in its maintenance inventory as well as provide better, more thorough training on the metric system to its pilots and fuelling personnel.

After almost 25 years of service, C-GAUN flew its last revenue flight on January 1, 2008. On January 24, 2008, the Gimli Glider took its final voyage, AC7067, from Montreal Trudeau to Tucson International Airport before flying to its retirement in the Mojave Desert in California



In April 2013, the Gimli Glider was offered for sale at auction, by a company called Collectable Cars, with an estimated price of CA$2.75–3 million. However, bidding only reached CA$425,000 and the lot was unsold.

According to a website dedicated to saving the aircraft, the Gimli Glider was scrapped in early 2014. Parts of the metal fuselage were made into luggage tags and are offered for sale by a California company, Moto Art.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gimli_Glider

14 Likes 3 Shares

Re: See What Happens When An Airplane Runs Out Of Fuel Mid-Air (Photos) by cathodekazim: 9:46pm On Mar 21, 2019
Go on


Space booked
Re: See What Happens When An Airplane Runs Out Of Fuel Mid-Air (Photos) by decatalyst(m): 9:46pm On Mar 21, 2019
Ah! Will I fly in a plane?


I cannor gamble my life on these half trained pilots and miss measurements of fuel biko

53 Likes 5 Shares

Re: See What Happens When An Airplane Runs Out Of Fuel Mid-Air (Photos) by MrBrownJay1(m): 10:14pm On Mar 21, 2019
we tell you people to use Liter, Kilogram, kilometer etc etc like the rest of the world, but you dont want to listen....ok CUNT E NEW!!!!

12 Likes 2 Shares

Re: See What Happens When An Airplane Runs Out Of Fuel Mid-Air (Photos) by Nobody: 10:59pm On Mar 21, 2019
Oya OP.

Tell us why airplanes can’t just do “full tank” before takeoff?

34 Likes 2 Shares

Re: See What Happens When An Airplane Runs Out Of Fuel Mid-Air (Photos) by MrBrownJay1(m): 11:06pm On Mar 21, 2019
mrAMG2:
Oya OP.

Tell us why airplanes can’t just do “full tank” before takeoff?

its very simple: full tank will mean the plane being heavier thus needing more fuel to carry the plane from point A to B (since it would be heavier).... so instead they use just the fuel they need (with just extra for bad weather etc).

100 Likes 4 Shares

Re: See What Happens When An Airplane Runs Out Of Fuel Mid-Air (Photos) by Larryfest(m): 11:32pm On Mar 21, 2019
Those pilots were good too good in short....

33 Likes 4 Shares

Re: See What Happens When An Airplane Runs Out Of Fuel Mid-Air (Photos) by SeeMeForLAPTOP: 11:40pm On Mar 21, 2019
Humans are wonderful creatures even though flawed.
People talk about termites as small as they are building huge mounds. They laud their efforts in leadership and organizing.
Humans on the other hand are outstanding thinkers. I bet if an alien civilization meets man, they'll wonder how humans got to build a plane. A plane a lot of times bigger than a man and capable of covering alot of distance in a short time and capable of murdering hundreds at a go.

98 Likes 6 Shares

Re: See What Happens When An Airplane Runs Out Of Fuel Mid-Air (Photos) by SweetBuns(f): 12:32am On Mar 22, 2019
decatalyst:
Ah! Will I fly in a plain?


I cannor gamble my life on these half trained pilots and miss measurements of fuel biko

46 Likes 1 Share

Re: See What Happens When An Airplane Runs Out Of Fuel Mid-Air (Photos) by TheMainMan: 4:06am On Mar 22, 2019
I saw this episode on national geographic last year... it was a miraculous landing


the place they landed was once a runway where the pilot was trained but was later converted for sport racing

the front tire that busted actually helped created the necessary friction needed for the plane to stop because it would have been another story entirely if the tire didn't coz it was moving at a very high speed and would have crashed into something


what i don't understand was why the pilot was blamed despite the way he successfully manoeuvre a plane with both engines lost to land. undecided undecided undecided


we should also know that pilots are not trained for a situation where both engines fails coz it was never expected to happen... they are only trained for when only an engine is lost

kudos to the two pilot especially the captain

58 Likes 5 Shares

Re: See What Happens When An Airplane Runs Out Of Fuel Mid-Air (Photos) by gift01: 5:28am On Mar 22, 2019
Is it worse than when both engines on a plane stop working?
Re: See What Happens When An Airplane Runs Out Of Fuel Mid-Air (Photos) by originals1(m): 5:37am On Mar 22, 2019
Space booked

Meanwhile instagram page with 18k followers for sale, check my signature if you're interestedsmiley
Re: See What Happens When An Airplane Runs Out Of Fuel Mid-Air (Photos) by TheMainMan: 5:38am On Mar 22, 2019
gift01:
Is it worse than when both engines on a plane stop working?
neither is better

1 Like

Re: See What Happens When An Airplane Runs Out Of Fuel Mid-Air (Photos) by abumeinben(m): 6:25am On Mar 22, 2019
Edo Hairways always.

Where that pishor sef?

On a serious note, like someone wrote in one other thread, planes should have an emergency parachute that spend it in airport under distress. And this parachute should be capable of manual operation from the cockpit.

1 Like

Re: See What Happens When An Airplane Runs Out Of Fuel Mid-Air (Photos) by Timekeeper: 7:01am On Mar 22, 2019
.most of those untrained pilots are mostly igbos...

Pls no bashing Pls....

3 Likes 2 Shares

Re: See What Happens When An Airplane Runs Out Of Fuel Mid-Air (Photos) by anambraamaka: 7:02am On Mar 22, 2019
I respect pilots

1 Like

Re: See What Happens When An Airplane Runs Out Of Fuel Mid-Air (Photos) by IamProdigy: 7:04am On Mar 22, 2019
smiley

Your business needs an identity!

Get one

1 Like

Re: See What Happens When An Airplane Runs Out Of Fuel Mid-Air (Photos) by martineverest(m): 7:05am On Mar 22, 2019
these people are making me scared of entering planes
Re: See What Happens When An Airplane Runs Out Of Fuel Mid-Air (Photos) by shugabasbn: 7:05am On Mar 22, 2019
Tor, make the plane no try am when I dey inside over pacific or Atlantic ocean. Abeg

7 Likes

Re: See What Happens When An Airplane Runs Out Of Fuel Mid-Air (Photos) by HigherEd: 7:11am On Mar 22, 2019
If you've ever asked why mathematics is so important. The story of that Air Canada flight that nearly crashed because of conversion error is a good answer for you.

28 Likes

Re: See What Happens When An Airplane Runs Out Of Fuel Mid-Air (Photos) by kolajoo(m): 7:12am On Mar 22, 2019
grin
Re: See What Happens When An Airplane Runs Out Of Fuel Mid-Air (Photos) by monimekaz(m): 7:12am On Mar 22, 2019
fidalgo19:
Guess you will be wondering what happens to an airplane if fuel supply get depleted during flight way above the sky.
Airplanes don't just fall out of the sky if fuel supply finishes which causes the engine to shutdown. Airplanes can glide few miles with no engine powered on. If the airplane is high at altitude, Oxygen mask will drop off the cabin so people can breathe easily till the airplane descends a little.
When an airplane runs out of fuel the engines stop. The engines provide all the electric energy and hydraulic pressure needed for a flight, so the airplane just shutdown.

There are incidents which took place due to insufficient supply of fuel in an airplane.



Boeing 767 -233 of Air Canada also known as Gimli Glider pictured above successfully glided to emergency landing on a decommissioned runway in Gimli, Canada that had been converted to drag racing strip after losing it's whole fuel middle of the flight, the photo was taken July 23, 1983.

This was caused by a unit conversion error, Most of the world uses the metric system i.e. metres, liters etc. While a few countries e.g Liberia, Myanmar uses the imperial system of measurement i.e. gallons, pounds etc.

Canada was one of the latter countries until 1970 when the nation began to change over. Metrication (as it was called) took some time fifteen years and maybe even more. One of the industries to change over late in the process was the airline industry, which given the expense and longevity of the equipment makes sense. On July 23, 1983, Air Canada Flight 143 was one of the earlier flights using the new metric units.

Unfortunately, Air Canada was undergoing a second change at the same time — smaller flight crews. Typically, there were three core members of the crew — the pilot, the co-pilot, and a flight engineer. Flight 143, through, didn’t have a flight engineer; the pre-flight fueling protocol therefore fell to the pilots. That protocol required them to convert volume (liters) into mass (kilograms or pounds, depending on the system you use) in order to figure out how much fuel you need to add to your plane. And they did exactly what they should have done — except they got the labels wrong. Instead of figuring out how many liters the plane needed to hit the required payload of 22,300 kg, the crew calculated how many liters were needed to hit 22,300 pounds.

Instead of 22,300 kg (27,770 L) of fuel, they had 22,300 pounds (12,598 L) on board — 10,100 kg, about half the amount required to reach their destination.

Luckily, the pilot and co-pilot were better at the flying part than the math part of the job. The pilot already have ten years of glider training under his belt, and his co-pilot had trained at Gimli during his days with the Canadian Air Force — and therefore knew the surroundings quite well. Together, the pair were able to land the 767 — gliding the last 60 miles (100 km) — touching down just an hour or so before nightfall. The plane — the Gimli Glider, as it’d henceforth be known — suffered some damage to its nose and blew out some tires, as seen above, but the passengers were pretty much okay. Ten people suffered minor injuries but, miraculously, there were no fatalities.

The Aviation Safety Board of Canada reported that Air Canada management was responsible for "corporate and equipment deficiencies". Their report praised the flight and cabin crews for their "professionalism and skill". It noted that Air Canada "neglected to assign clearly and specifically the responsibility for calculating the fuel load in an abnormal situation."It further found that the airline had failed to reallocate the task of checking fuel load (which had been the responsibility of the flight engineer on older aircraft flown with a crew of three.) The safety board also said that Air Canada needed to keep more spare parts, including replacements for the defective fuel quantity indicator, in its maintenance inventory as well as provide better, more thorough training on the metric system to its pilots and fuelling personnel.

After almost 25 years of service, C-GAUN flew its last revenue flight on January 1, 2008. On January 24, 2008, the Gimli Glider took its final voyage, AC7067, from Montreal Trudeau to Tucson International Airport before flying to its retirement in the Mojave Desert in California



In April 2013, the Gimli Glider was offered for sale at auction, by a company called Collectable Cars, with an estimated price of CA$2.75–3 million. However, bidding only reached CA$425,000 and the lot was unsold.

According to a website dedicated to saving the aircraft, the Gimli Glider was scrapped in early 2014. Parts of the metal fuselage were made into luggage tags and are offered for sale by a California company, Moto Art.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gimli_Glider

This write up is not precise and concise .Interesting topic,boring dictions and unnecessary details .

4 Likes

Re: See What Happens When An Airplane Runs Out Of Fuel Mid-Air (Photos) by Reference(m): 7:13am On Mar 22, 2019
Boeing's fault.... according to some nitwits.
Re: See What Happens When An Airplane Runs Out Of Fuel Mid-Air (Photos) by superlanny(m): 7:14am On Mar 22, 2019
Here's what happens when a plane runs out of fuel mid air, I start to repent all over again and Jesus becomes the sole superstar in my life.

4 Likes

Re: See What Happens When An Airplane Runs Out Of Fuel Mid-Air (Photos) by Nobody: 7:15am On Mar 22, 2019
Re: See What Happens When An Airplane Runs Out Of Fuel Mid-Air (Photos) by onyxo76(m): 7:15am On Mar 22, 2019
martineverest:
these people are making me scared of entering planes
very scared o, and there is no total filling station to refuel mid air.

11 Likes

Re: See What Happens When An Airplane Runs Out Of Fuel Mid-Air (Photos) by montumonami(m): 7:16am On Mar 22, 2019
Air travel is more save than road. Road accidents have killed more people it's just that the whole world gets to hear about a single air crash that happens
decatalyst:
Ah! Will I fly in a plane?


I cannor gamble my life on these half trained pilots and miss measurements of fuel biko

4 Likes

Re: See What Happens When An Airplane Runs Out Of Fuel Mid-Air (Photos) by EmekaBlue(m): 7:16am On Mar 22, 2019
plane plane plane

u guys shouldnt get phobia bcoz it barely crashes....

over thousands of planes travels round d world in different routes everyday and only once in a while a crash scene happens

3 Likes

Re: See What Happens When An Airplane Runs Out Of Fuel Mid-Air (Photos) by montumonami(m): 7:17am On Mar 22, 2019
Air travel is more save than road. Road accidents have killed more people it's just that the whole world gets to hear of a single air crash that happens
decatalyst:
Ah! Will I fly in a plane?


I cannor gamble my life on these half trained pilots and miss measurements of fuel biko

3 Likes

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