Gimli Glider - Aftermath

Aftermath

Following Air Canada's internal investigation, Captain Pearson was demoted for six months, and First Officer Quintal was suspended for two weeks. Three maintenance workers were also suspended. Nevertheless, in 1985 the pilots were awarded the first ever Fédération Aéronautique Internationale Diploma for Outstanding Airmanship. Several attempts by other crews who were given the same circumstances in a simulator at Vancouver resulted in simulated crashes. Quintal was promoted to Captain in 1989, while Pearson retired in 1993.

C-GAUN, Air Canada fin number 604, was temporarily repaired at Gimli and flew out two days later to be fully repaired at a maintenance base in Winnipeg. It remained in service with Air Canada until almost a quarter-century later. Following the successful appeal of their suspensions, Pearson and Quintal were assigned as crew members aboard another Air Canada flight. As they boarded the aircraft, it became apparent that the aircraft was the same one that was involved in the Gimli incident, and they lightly joked about not repeating the performance. Shortly after takeoff, a low fuel warning did sound; however, it was a false alarm from a defective warning system, and the flight continued uneventfully to its destination. After 25 years of service, the airplane flew its last revenue flight on 1 January 2008. Air Canada still uses the flight number 143, but the route is now St. John's—Halifax—Ottawa—Edmonton using an Embraer 190 aircraft.