Forty years ago today, Air Canada Flight AC143 made its miraculous landing in Gimli, Manitoba and Perry Van Veen has been captivated by the story ever since
Perry Van Veen has spent the past five years assembling a personal tribute to a Canadian aviation legend: an Air Canada Boeing 767 passenger jet, nicknamed the Gimli Glider for an astonishing feat performed 40 years ago today.
Unable to reach the closest major airport — Winnipeg — once the peril appeared and the aircraft was out of fuel, Pearson skilfully glided the 80-ton plane to an abandoned military airstrip in Gimli, Manitoba, chasing hot-rodders and kids on bicycles from the asphalt runway in the process. All passengers and crew survived the landing. The twin-engine aircraft was repaired and put back into service, and was retired from the Air Canada fleet in 2008.
The event has always intrigued Van Veen, a Welland, Ontario resident and a former pilot himself, who still dabbles in aviation parts as a hobby. He decided that he would re-create a cockpit identical to that of the Gimli Glider, and in 2017 bid successfully on the nose of a Boeing 767 from a retired Delta Airlines jet in Arizona.“My cockpit is from exactly the same type of bird as the Gimli Glider,” said Van Veen. “A lot of these Boeing 767s are still flying today.
Canada Latest News, Canada Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Electric vehicle charging station outages leave drivers strandedNDP calls for electric vehicle charging infrastructure and reliability across Northern Ontario and Canada
Read more »
Ontario man almost done recreating famous plane's cockpit in his garageForty years ago today, Air Canada Flight AC143 made its miraculous landing in Gimli, Manitoba and Perry Van Veen has been captivated by the story ever since
Read more »
Ontario adds $44M to fund aimed at reducing ER wait timesThe fund is also being expanded to allow smaller hospitals to qualify \u002D\u002D those that have fewer than 30,000 ER visits a year.
Read more »
Members from several First Nations rally against northern Ontario mining plansTORONTO — Members of several First Nations rallied outside the Ontario legislature Thursday to raise concerns about mining exploration they say is happening on…
Read more »
Denley: Doug Ford's PCs not getting enough credit for tackling Ontario’s fundamental problemsFacing byelections, opinion polls suggest Ford\u0027s government is not doing enough for Ontario. The evidence says the opposite.
Read more »