Has an airliner ever run out of fuel?

Air Canada Flight 143, commonly known as the Gimli Glider, was a Canadian scheduled domestic passenger flight between Montreal and Edmonton that ran out of fuel on Saturday, July 23, 1983, at an altitude of 41,000 feet (12,500 m), midway through the flight.



People Also Ask

Airlines find that fuel dumping can actually be cheaper than not dumping in certain circumstances. But it's not something pilots do on a routine basis. We spoke with Alison Duquette, spokesperson for the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), who assured us that it doesn't happen very often.

MORE DETAILS

Techincally, there is only one way for the aircraft to remain hanging motionless in the air: if weight and lift cancel each other out perfectly, and at the same time thrust and drag cancel each other out too. But this is incredibly rare. To stay in the air and sustain its flight, an aircraft needs to be moving forward.

MORE DETAILS

What is the longest flight in the world by distance? The longest flight in the world by distance is New York (JFK) to Singapore (SIN) on Singapore Airlines clocking in at 9,537 miles. What plane can fly the farthest in the world?

MORE DETAILS

Can planes fly on just one engine? Absolutely. That is what they are designed to do. By law, planes have to be able to fly from point A to point B, over water, on just one engine.

MORE DETAILS

Over a certain altitude it is always considered safe to dump fuel. The high speed of the airplane means the fuel is spread very thin and will evaporate before it hits the ground. Accidents do of course happen where it is not possible to safely dump fuel and they end up dumping over populated areas.

MORE DETAILS

Fuel dumping (or a fuel jettison) is a procedure used by aircraft in certain emergency situations before a return to the airport shortly after takeoff, or before landing short of the intended destination (emergency landing) to reduce the aircraft's weight.

MORE DETAILS

Some 83 aircraft have been declared “missing” since 1948, according to data compiled by the Aviation Safety Network. The list includes planes capable of carrying more than 14 passengers and where no trace — bodies or debris — has ever been found. Related Graphic: Where Could Flight 370 Be? >>

MORE DETAILS

Typically in the case of an emergency landing, the plane will be landing somewhere well short of its destination. If it has not been flying long enough to burn off enough fuel to get below the maximum landing weight, they need to dump fuel in order to land safely.

MORE DETAILS

The reason to dump fuel is simple: to drop weight. Any given aircraft has a Maximum Landing Weight (MLW) at which it can land, and in most cases that weight is lower than its Maximum Takeoff Weight (MTOW).

MORE DETAILS