This Date in Aviation History: July 22 - July 24

"ttyymmnn" (ttyymmnn)
07/24/2020 at 12:35 • Filed to: wingspan, Planelopnik, TDIAH

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Welcome to This Date in Aviation History , getting of you caught up on milestones, important historical events and people in aviation from July 22 through July 24.

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The Gimli Glider, with escape chutes still attached, rests on its collapsed nosewheel behind the racetrack at the closed airstrip.

July 23, 1983 – Air Canada Flight 143, known as the Gimli Glider, runs out of fuel over Manitoba. When driving a car, most people rarely give the fuel gauge more than a passing glance, and many rely on a warning light to alert them when the fuel level is low. And unless you’re driving across the desert, you can pull over at any convenient gas station and top up. Driving across the country requires a bit more attention, as gas stations can be spaced farther apart, and perhaps even a little bit of math might be involved to figure out if there’s enough fuel to reach the next town or if you need to fill up now. And even then, running out of gas on the road is generally more of an inconvenience than a life-and-death situation. But calculating the amount of fuel to put in a transcontinental airliner is a much more involved task, and one that actually could be a matter of life or death. The aircrew must make calculations for the weight of passengers, cargo and fuel at takeoff, taxiing time, the distance and altitude of the flight, the rate at which the fuel burns off, and they must make sure that there is enough fuel in reserve to divert to another airport should the need arise. The vast majority of the time, the crew gets it right, and with fuel to spare. But in the case of Air Canada Flight 143, which came to be known as the Gimli Glider, the crew got it completely wrong.

Air Canada Boeing 767 (C-GAUN) taxiing at San Francisco Airport in 1985

Air Canada Flight 143 was a scheduled flight from Montreal to Edmonton when, at 41,000 feet, pilots Captain Robert Pearson and First Office Maurice Quintal were alerted to fuel pressure problem onboard their !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! (C-GAUN). Due to an electronic fault, the airliner’s fuel gauges weren’t working, but the pilots assumed that they had plenty of fuel based on the calculations they had made on the ground before the flight. In reality, they took off with half the amount of fuel necessary to reach their destination. Soon after the alarm, both engines quit, the 767 lost all power, and the majority of the instrument panels went dark. The pilots found themselves at the controls of world’s largest glider, a situation for which neither of them had ever trained.

The Gimli Glider was raised back onto its nose wheel, made airworthy, then flown to a maintenance facility in Winnipeg two days after landing at Gimli. The 767 was then returned to service and flew without incident until 2008.

With the aid of ground controllers, the crew determined that their best option would be an emergency landing at !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , a former Royal Canadian Air Force air station. However, though the runways were still mostly intact, the station was no longer active, and much of it had been turned into an industrial park and racetrack. And there was a race being held on the track at the time. The pilots performed a gravity drop of the landing gear, but the nose wheel failed to lock. Despite having no hydraulic power and limited electricity generated by an external turbine, the pilots still managed to land safely. A small fire in the nose of the aircraft was extinguished by race safety personnel at the scene, and all passengers and crew exited the plane safely, though some passengers were injured when the safety slides at the rear of the craft weren’t long enough to reach the ground due to the collapsed nose gear.

The Gimli Glider parked at Mojave Airport & Spaceport in February 2008 sporting its final Air Canada livery

Investigators discovered that the fuel exhaustion was caused by a combination of miscommunication between the cockpit crew and maintenance personnel, fuel gauges that were disconnected or not functioning properly, and fuel calculations that had been made in pounds instead of kilograms, a result Canada’s ongoing transition from the Imperial to the metric system. For their part in the incorrect fuel calculation, Captain Pearson and FO Quintal were initially found to be partially at fault for the incident. Pearson was demoted for six months, and Quintal was suspended for two weeks. Maintenance personnel were also suspended. Despite these punitive measures, the flight crew was awarded the first ever !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! Diploma for Outstanding Airmanship in 1985, and FO Quintal was eventually promoted to captain. The Gimli Glider was repaired and returned to service, and took its final flight on January 24, 2008, after which it was retired to storage in the Mojave Desert. When no buyers came forward to purchase the 767, it was dismantled, and aluminum from the plane was turned into souvenir keychains.

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Short Takeoff

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July 22, 1959 – The first “jetway” in the United States is installed at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport in Atlanta.* While modern travelers are familiar with the extendable tunnel that leads passengers to their airplane, boarding an airliner in the early days of commercial aviation meant crossing the tarmac or muddy field and climbing stairs, often at the mercy of the elements. Engineer Frank Der Yuen patented an “apparatus for facilitating the loading and unloading of passengers and cargo,” and the trademarked name jetway has now become synonymous with any passenger boarding bridge (PBB) as it is officially known. Capable of being extended, retracted, moved, raised or lowered to accommodate most any airliner, the jetway is now a fixture at most airports around the world, and provides a safe and comfortable way for air travelers to board their plane.

* The actual location of the first jetway is not clear, with some accounts placing it at either O’Hare Airport in Chicago, Los Angeles International Airport, LaGuardia Airport in New York or San Francisco International Airport.

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July 22, 1955 – The first flight of the Republic XF-84H “Thunderscreech,” a development of the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! intended to provide the US Navy with a fighter that could take off without a catapult. The XF-84H had a 5,850 hp !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! turboprop located behind the cockpit that turned a propeller in the nose through a drive shaft and which also provided thrust through its exhaust. An afterburner was fitted but never used. While the concept showed unprecedented acceleration, the aircraft took 30 minutes to warm up, and the supersonic propeller, turning at a constant Mach 1.18, caused continuous sonic booms that created a shock wave which induced acute nausea and headaches in the ground crew. The XF-84H was also one of the loudest aircraft ever produced, and its warmup could be heard 25 miles away. The test program was plagued by difficulties with control and engine reliability, and the XF-84H was cancelled in 1956 after the construction of two prototypes.

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July 22, 1918 – The death of Indra Lal Roy, India’s only WWI flying ace. Born on December 2, 1898 in Calcutta, former British India, Roy was attending school in London when the war broke out, and he was initially rejected by the Royal Flying Corps for poor eyesight. Only after getting a second opinion was he accepted for flight duty. After recovering from injuries suffered in the crash of his !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , Roy returned to service and scored 13 victories (two shared) in just two days. Roy was killed in a dog fight against a !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , and he was posthumously awarded the United Kingdom’s !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , the first Indian to receive the honor. Roy was just 19 years old.

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July 23, 2020 – Tianwen-1 launches on a mission to explore Mars. In its first solo !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! to Earth’s closest neighbor, China launched a orbiting probe and lander to Mars from the Wenchang Spacecraft Launch Site on Hainan Island atop a !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , the country’s largest launch vehicle. With Mars at its closest to Earth in a 26-year orbital cycle, the probe is expected to reach the Red Planet in February of 2021. This is China’s second attempt to reach Mars. In 2011, they teamed up with Russia, but the mission ended in failure when the vehicle failed to exit Earth orbit. Tianwen-1 is programmed to land on the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! in Mars’ northern hemisphere, then deploy a rover for 90 days of exploration. If successful, it will be the first time any nation has landed and deployed an rover on its first mission to Mars. There are currently !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! operating or on their way to Mars launched by the United States, the European Union, India/Russia, and the United Arab Emirates.

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July 23, 2012 – The death of Sally Ride, a physicist, astronaut, and the first American woman in space. Born in Los Angeles, California on May 26, 1951, Ride joined NASA in 1978 and first went to space in 1983 as a Mission Specialist on board Space Shuttle !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! during mission !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! . With that flight, Ride became not only the first American woman in space and the first known LGBT astronaut, but, at age 32, she was also the youngest American astronaut to fly in space. Ride went to space a second time the following year, again on Challenger , as a Mission Specialist on !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! . Ride left NASA in 1987, but served on the investigation committees into the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! and !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! disasters. After teaching physics at the University of California, San Diego, Ride died of pancreatic cancer at age 61.

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July 23, 1973 – The death of Eddie Rickenbacker. Born on October 8, 1890 in Columbus, Ohio, Rickenbacker was America’s leading ace in WWI and a recipient of the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! . Rickenbacker served in the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , nicknamed the “Hat-in-the-Ring” squadron, where he flew French-made !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! and !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! fighters and finished the war with 26 confirmed victories. Rickenbacker eventually commanded the 94th, then started the short-lived !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! in 1920. Rickenbacker made his greatest contribution to aviation as the head of !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , which he led from 1938 until his retirement in 1963. Rickenbacker died of a stroke at the age of 82.

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July 23, 1952 – The first flight of the Fouga CM.170 Magister, a jet-powered trainer built for the French Armée de l’Air to replace the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! . The world’s first purpose-built jet trainer to enter production, the Magister is a straight-wing monoplane with a distinctive V-shaped tail, a design element that Fouga borrowed from its !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! glider. Fouga also produced a naval variant for the French Navy, the CM.175 Zéphyr, which was used as the primary trainer for pilots learning carrier operations. The Magister also operated as a light attack aircraft, and could be armed with two machine guns and up to 310 pounds of external ordnance. Widely exported and also built under license by West Germany, Finland and Israel, a total of 929 CM.170s were produced.

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July 23, 1932 – The death of Alberto Santos-Dumont, a Brazilian aviation pioneer and one of the early inventors of aircraft in France. Born on July 20, 1873, Santos-Dumont got his start in aviation with ballooning and dirigibles, then constructed his first aircraft, the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , in which he made the first heavier-than-air flight in Europe in 1906. His final aircraft, the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! monoplane, became the world’s first production airplane. Santos-Dumont is a national hero in his homeland to this day, where he is known as the “father of flight,” and many Brazilians believe that his flights predated those of the Wright Brothers. Despite his success and celebrity, Santos-Dumont committed suicide by hanging himself. He was said to be depressed over his multiple sclerosis, and also upset over the use of aircraft as a weapon of war in São Paolo’s !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! . Santos-Dumont was 59 years old.

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July 23, 1930 – The death of Glenn Curtiss. Though often eclipsed in history books by the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , Glenn Curtiss was one of America’s greatest aviation pioneers, and has been credited with the creation of the American aviation industry. Born on May 21, 1878 in Hammondsport, New York, Curtiss’ credits include the first officially witnessed flight in North America, victory at the world’s first international air meet in France, and the first long-distance flight in the US. Curtiss also provided the US Navy with its first aircraft in 1911, the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , heralding the birth of US Naval Aviation. The Curtiss Airplane and Motor Company, and later Curtiss-Wright, made contributions to military aviation in both World Wars which are !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! to mention here, but some of the most important aircraft built by him or his company include the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! biplane, the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! and !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , and the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! .

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July 24, 1978 – McDonnell Douglas completes the 5,000th F-4 Phantom II. One of the iconic aircraft of the Cold War era, the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! entered service in 1960 with the US Navy and eventually became one of the few fighters to serve simultaneously in the Navy, US Marine Corps, and US Air Force. Production of the two-seat all-weather interceptor/fighter-bomber began in 1958 and, by the time production ended in 1981, a total of 5,195 were built to serve the US military and 11 export nations. The F-4G !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! electronic warfare variant served as late as 1991 in the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! and, following the Phantom’s retirement from US service in 1996, remaining F-4s were converted to QF-4 target drones.

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July 24, 1946 – Bernard Lynch becomes the first person to be ejected from an airplane. The death of !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! in an aviation accident in 1942 spurred his business parter, !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , to begin work on the first production ejection seat and, in 1944, the RAF Air Staff approached Martin to develop an escape system for their new jet-powered fighters. Martin designed a seat that was launched out of the aircraft using an explosive charge and, after numerous tests on the ground over the course of a year, Lynch, a !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! employee, was successfully ejected from a !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! flying at 8,000 ft. Fortunately for Lynch, the seat performed flawlessly, and Martin-Baker continues making ejection seats to this day.

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July 24, 1897 – The birth of Amelia Earhart. Born in Atchison, Kansas, Amelia Earhart holds a significant place in the annals of American aviation history, as she was not only a pioneering aviator but also a pioneer in the expansion of societal roles for women in general. Earhart took her first flying lessons in 1921, and set her first world altitude record the next year. In 1928, she was the first woman to cross the Atlantic by plane, albeit as a passenger, but made her own transatlantic solo flight in 1932, a feat for which she received the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! . Earhart set numerous other flying records, but disappeared over the Pacific Ocean in 1937 with navigator !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! on her second attempt to circumnavigate the globe. The mystery of her disappearance remains unsolved to this day.

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Connecting Flights

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If you enjoy these Aviation History posts, please let me know in the comments. You can find more posts about aviation history, aviators, and aviation oddities at !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! .

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DISCUSSION (24)

ranwhenparked > ttyymmnn
07/24/2020 at 12:56

The Gimli Glider incident is such a crazy amount of fortunate coincidences happening at the same time, that it would be criticized as lazy and hackneyed writing if it was fiction.

Pilot - just happens to fly gliders as a hobby

Copilot - served in the RCAF, knew of a closed former airfield that wasn’t on their map, and just happened to be within practical distance, when nothing else was

On the ground - airfield partially converted to race track, with a crowded family weekend going on, but no major obstructions placed in the way of the plane, and everyone managed to get out of the way in time, despite the near total silence of the powerless airliner as it descended.

Each crew member’s extracurricular activity was crucial, and the fact that they ran out of fuel where they did was lucky. Take away any one part, and it would have been a disaster.

farscythe - makin da cawfee! > ttyymmnn
07/24/2020 at 13:10

just letting you know..i do enjoy these posts

just almost never comment coz i know very little about planes and have nothing to add

also..coz these tend to turn up as im at my most braindeadest..fresh after work

ttyymmnn > farscythe - makin da cawfee!
07/24/2020 at 13:15

Thanks. And thanks for reading.

jminer > ttyymmnn
07/24/2020 at 13:17

Excellent read as always!

I loved the first story, an out of fuel airliner landing on a decommissioned AFB turned into a race track. This needs to be a movie!

ranwhenparked > jminer
07/24/2020 at 13:29

It was, a low budget , made-for-TV movie, but, still.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falling_from_the_Sky:_Flight_174

ttyymmnn > jminer
07/24/2020 at 13:33

Thanks!

Thomas Donohue > ttyymmnn
07/24/2020 at 13:35

There’s a really good ‘Gimli Glider’ episode of Air Disasters (or one of those shows).

That picture is great.

The fact that they jacked it up, and flew it out of there a few days later shows how gently they brought it in. Not to mention it went back into service for many years.

Turbineguy: Nom de Zoom > Thomas Donohue
07/24/2020 at 13:54

That picture is great.

It’s the first known photo of a stanced 767. Fortunately the trend did not continue.

user314 > ttyymmnn
07/24/2020 at 13:57

Back to the Thunderscreech for a few minutes:

The XF-84H was almost certainly the loudest aircraft ever built, earning the nickname “Thunderscreech” as well as the “Mighty Ear Banger”. On the ground “run ups”, the prototypes could reportedly be heard 25 miles (40 km) away. Unlike standard propellers that turn at subsonic speeds, the outer 24–30 inches of the blades on the XF-84H’s propeller traveled faster than the speed of sound even at idle thrust, producing a continuous visible sonic boom that radiated laterally from the propellers for hundreds of yards. The shock wave was actually powerful enough to knock a man down; an unfortunate crew chief who was inside a nearby C-47 was severely incapacitated during a 30-minute ground run. Coupled with the already considerable noise from the subsonic aspect of the propeller and the T40's dual turbine sections, the aircraft was notorious for inducing severe nausea and headaches among ground crews. In one report, a Republic engineer suffered a seizure after close range exposure to the shock waves emanating from a powered-up XF-84H.

The pervasive noise also severely disrupted operations in the Edwards AFB control tower by risking vibration damage to sensitive components and forcing air traffic personnel to communicate with the XF-84H’s crew on the flight line by light signals . After numerous complaints, the Air Force Flight Test Center directed Republic to tow the aircraft out on Rogers Dry Lake , far from the flight line, before running up its engine.

The XF-84H was also very hard on test pilots; in addition to taking 30-minutes to warm up, the plane suffered from a rash of engine and hydraulic failures, as well as issues with the nose gear and general vibration problems. One of Republic’s test pilots, Lin Hendrix, flew the plane ONCE and refused to get in it again, telling the project engineer: “You aren’t big enough and there aren’t enough of you to get me in that thing again”. He later said the plane never exceeded 450 knots indicated, since beyond that speed it had a nasty habit of “ snaking”, loosing all longitudinal stability. Little wonder then that of the two built only one survives, with the second prototype being scrapped after the USAF canceled the program.

Taylor Martin > ttyymmnn
07/24/2020 at 13:58

Dude, awesome read! That first story instantly reminded me of this old video from like 2007 or something. A comedy sketch with a plane landing and chasing a Jeep.

I can’t imagine going to a track day and racing a plane.

Turbineguy: Nom de Zoom > ttyymmnn
07/24/2020 at 13:58

I knew a guy at my home field who owned a Magister. It was underpowered and its performance was therefore underwhelming. Neat plane, just needed more thrust.

Darkbrador > Turbineguy: Nom de Zoom
07/24/2020 at 14:09

I’ve seen them doing real cool aerobatic shows under the colors of the Patrouille de France. Certainly not hauling @ss like a Mirage, but certainly good enough in the hands of good pilots ...

John Norris (AngryDrifter) > ttyymmnn
07/24/2020 at 14:20

Great post, as always.

Somehow in 1983 I missed the 767 glider story. I would have been finishing up college, or drinking beer. Not sure which. But anyway what an amazing story. At that point that 767 would have been pretty much brand new.

Lots of dead people in aviation history. Just pointing that out.

ttyymmnn > Darkbrador
07/24/2020 at 14:37

Similar to the Snowbirds. It doesn’t have to be daft to be impressive.

Darkbrador > ttyymmnn
07/24/2020 at 14:42

Exactly. I remember watching a video during my pilot training, of an older gentleman (Bob Hoover maybe ?) who was doing loops in a big fat twin engined plane, engines off ... it’s all about managing your energy.

Turbineguy: Nom de Zoom > Darkbrador
07/24/2020 at 14:48

Once they’re in the air they’re okay but the low thrust of the Turbomeca Marbore engines results in a long takeoff roll and climb. Especially on a hot day near gross weight.

Ash78, voting early and often > Darkbrador
07/24/2020 at 14:53

Bob Hoover was always my favorite airshow act as a kid because it was just so improbable. Like watching the aerobatic sailplane pilots do 10-minute routines close to the ground (but really fast).

facw > Taylor Martin
07/24/2020 at 15:51

Older than 2007, 2000! Older than Youtube!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/405_(film)

ttyymmnn > John Norris (AngryDrifter)
07/24/2020 at 19:05

I was still in high school in 83, smoking a lot of pot and not paying attention to the news much. I don’t remember hearing about it then either.

Yeah, lots of dead people. I like to think that progress is made through those deaths, and you can now say that commercial aviation is one of the safest ways to travel. You’re more likely to die driving to the airport than you are in a plane crash.

ttyymmnn > Darkbrador
07/24/2020 at 19:06

Daft? Thanks, autocorrect. I meant “fast.” I’ve seen the Snowbirds once, and I was struck by how graceful their demo was. I do like the American teams, but there was something, dare I say, polite, about the Snowbirds. I enjoyed it.

ttyymmnn > Taylor Martin
07/24/2020 at 19:18

Oh, man, I remember that film. Great stuff.

Thanks, and thinks for reading.

Taylor Martin > facw
07/25/2020 at 09:29

For 300 bucks in 2000 this actually looks half decent. Kinda like the stuff the History channel puts out whenever they make a documentary on plane crashes or space ships. Very neat.

Only Vespas... > ttyymmnn
07/25/2020 at 13:54

Great Job! I did not know of Indra Lal Roy! Must have been tough coming up in the RFC as a “colonial”. Man, that mustache on Bernard Lynch, now that’s a pilot’s stashe. Almost the same shape as the RAF badge.

ttyymmnn > Only Vespas...
07/25/2020 at 13:59

Bernard Lynch looks like he’d be a lot of fun at the pub,