The Wings Stayed On!: The Gimli Glider retires to the desert.

Jan 24, 2008

The Gimli Glider retires to the desert.

Final Flyby...

On Thursday, January 24th, fin 604, the Boeing 767-200 better known as the Gimli Glider, will undertake its final voyage from Montreal to Mojave Airport (MHV) before it is retired to the desert. Fin 604 which has now become part of Canadian aviation history, is set to depart as flight AC7067, at 9 a.m. from Montreal.

Captain Robert Pearson and First Officer Maurice Quintal, the flight crew who landed the aircraft to safety in Gimli on July 23, 1983 are expected to be on hand for the aircraft's departure.

AC B-767 fin #604 Going South

3 comments:

Anonymous said...: Was there ever any discussion to retire C-GAUN at Gimli? The cabin might make a nice small museum of the famous Gimli glider.; Jan 24, 2008, 7:34:00 PM
Aviatrix said...: Ahh, I was going to blog on that. Thank you for recognizing the occasion. I agree with your first commenter that it would make a lovely museum. I wonder how much it would have cost to strip it down and have it make one last landing at Gimli instead of Nevada.; Jan 24, 2008, 11:20:00 PM
zb said...: Aluwings, thanks for pointing my interest to this retirement of a plane. May I please encourage you to post stories about flying planes into the desert for storage or retirement? I still can't say exactly why, but desert airports/storage yards/scrap facilities are extremely fascinating for me. I hope nothing is wrong with me. You may have flown into such places. If this is true, please tell us about those trips in your blog.; Jan 27, 2008, 12:52:00 PM

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What"s this about?

An eclectic series of articles based on my experiences as a commercial pilot. Sometimes behind-the-scenes tales; sometimes more technical descriptions of Jet Transport Aircraft - and the people who fly them. While the stories are based upon actual experiences and real people, I use composite characters and made-up names*. If they seem familiar, they are. They're the people you live and work with every day. The world is full of interesting people - if we only knew!

The title of this blog comes from my first observation after test-flying my home-built aircraft: "The wings stayed on!" And later I realized that life is often like that. We are continually faced with new adventures. And though we study and train and prepare as much as we can, finally we have to launch and put all this preparation to the test. And unexpected things still happen. As the bumper sticker says, Life Happens. And we deal with it - hopefully with a good dose of humour and hope. And if the "wings stayed on!" well at least that's the main thing. And everything else is just details.

My stories are usually drawn from looking back over my career, which thankfully has been pretty dull. Trust me. When flying a commercial airliner, boring is good. You wouldn't like exciting... So don't expect many stories about engines exploding, and wheels falling off, and cabins catching fire. Though that kind of stuff goes on, thankfully, it hasn't been my experience. My stories are the more mundane things, the little things that inhabit real life.

And while mundane is the reality of modern airline flying, still it's an amazing feat, a dramatic and dynamic accomplishment that we shouldn't take for granted. Perhaps day-in, day-out our world-wide airline industry represents our civilizations' most complex achievement. And though it has become mundane we should never forget that the real drama lies in the times when these bigger disasters are too close for comfort. The times when some small factors could produce seriously different outcomes.

Sometimes all the calm around you is an illusion -- a little like the movie Jurassic Park where the investors are touring the not-quite-ready-for-opening facility, while the technicians thrash away at command central, trying to keep everything together - trying to keep up the facade that it's all under control. But if it is, it's not by much.

Oh yeah, one more thing. Like everyone in the airline industry who's blogging, I'm hoping to write a book, and I'm practicing on you folks. I'm always trying to hone my story-telling skills so if you have any comments please leave them. Also, please respect the copyright thing.

Thanks.

Aluwings