Change Your Image
Outcast_Searcher
Reviews
Mayday: Gimli Glider (2008)
Major Omission, IMO
First. if you are interested in a very detailed account of what happened, which includes a very detailed account of how, where, and when the failures in the measurement of the fuel occurred, there is a MUCH better source than this episode. The book "Freefall, a true story, 41,000 feet & Out of Fuel" can be had used for cheap from the internet, gives such background and perspective far better than any video or internet article source I have found.
The thing that disturbs me is this -- the obvious solution would be that: If instrumentation is broken, the simplest method to determine safety MUST be used, regardless of cost. Else, the flight MUST be canceled. (In this case, the tanks would have had to be FILLED, since the fuel gages didn't work. That would have cost a little more fuel due to the full-tank fuel weight, but would have ENSURED that there was enough fuel. Oh, and if the airline didn't like this, they could have had MORE SPARE PARTS, so the repair could have been made.
Instead, manual calculations (by very poorly trained employees in various jobs) were allowed, and they were all wrong. (Interestingly, the psychology reviewed in the book is that EVERY position considered the responsibility to be SOMEONE ELSE'S job. Also, the official aircraft documentation was WRONG, contributing to how the flight crew made their contribution to the bad calculations/decisions.
I can't speak for Canada, but for the US, this is typical of regulators bowing to corporate interests instead of making PUBLIC SAFETY the primary goal. The FAA is captive to airlines and the pressure to save on cost. This causes numerous tragedies. In my city, flight 5191 is a tragic example, where a personal friend burned to death due to (at least in part) lax FAA rules.