Manitoba town celebrates 40th anniversary of miraculous 'Gimli Glider'

It's been 40 years since an extraordinary day for the people of Gimli, Manitoba.

On July 23, 1983, Air Canada Flight 143 was flying from Montreal to Edmonton when one by one the aircraft’s fuel tank alarms began to go off.

"So we've got these lights coming on, and I said 'Morris I don't understand what's going on,” said pilot Bob Pearson at the 40th anniversary commemoration of the Gimli Glider.

Pearson and his co-pilot decided to make an emergency landing in Manitoba. It was all hands on deck as they worked with Winnipeg Air Traffic Control to find a landing spot for the Boeing 767.

“(We were) calling volunteer firefighters, calling RCMP between Red Lake and Winnipeg, because we didn't know exactly what was going to happen,” said Terry Arnold, who was an air traffic controller at the time.

Suddenly, the plane's engines cut out, taking the radio with it.

“There was a loud 'boom' and the cockpit went black because all the engines were run off the electricity generated by the engines," Pearson said.

The plane glided silently as it got closer to Gimli, finally crash landing at a decommissioned air strip.

Art Zuke and Kerry Seabrook were two of only three people who witnessed the crash. They were riding their bikes on the tarmac.

“It wasn't until after the plane came to a stop that we saw smoke and flames and people evacuating that we realized that oh this shouldn't have happened and this is potentially dangerous,” Zuke said.

Everyone walked away from the plane with only a few minor injuries.

An investigation revealed that the plane had run out of fuel due to a miscalculation of the fuel load. “I found out a few days later those numbers were pounds per litre," Pearson said. "Which were being used ok the other airplanes.”

Gimli has celebrated the miraculous landing every year since. Pearson even met his wife at a Gimli Glider event ten years ago. She was one of the passengers on the plane.

For the 40th anniversary Sunday the town honoured Pearson and mounted a special plaque where the plane landed.

Pearson's friends say they are trying to get him into the Canadian hall of fame for his heroics.