06/30/2010. Remarks by Gary Hebbard: "This aircraft, one of four to join the fleet in 1983, became infamous that year as "The Gimli Glider" when it ran out of fuel, causing the flameout of both engines while on a scheduled passenger flight from Ottawa, Ontario to Edmonton, Alberta at 41,000 feet.

The pilots were able to make a dead stick landing at an abandoned airfield in Gimli, Manitoba (hence the nickname) with no injuries and only minor damage when the nose gear failed to extend.

Cause of the fuel exhaustion was confusion over converting the fuel quantity to metric values, the metric system having just been adopted in Canada. The plane was repaired and returned to service and served well until it was finally retired from the Air Canada fleet to the Arizona desert in late 2009.

The book Freefall by William & Mona Hoffer, St. Martin's Press, 1989, gives a wonderful account of the event."