List of airline flights that required gliding

This is a list of commercial airline flights that were forced to glide in mid-flight.

Date Flight Aircraft Location Cause Result Total fatalities Total passengers and crew
14 February 1953 Miami Airline unknown flight number[1] Douglas DC-3 East of Selleck, Washington While on approach to Boeing Field, first the left engine failed and was feathered. A few minutes later, the right engine failed. Investigation showed that both engines suffered bearing failures caused by negligent maintenance. While gliding, the aircraft was unable to clear a mountain at 3,500 feet (1,100 m) MSL. It crashed into trees and broke up. 77
24 February 1962 Tarom Ilyushin 18V[2] Ilyushin Il-18 Paphos, Cyprus Fuel filters icing (probable) En route at 7,000 m (23,000 ft) over the Mediterranean Sea while 70 km (43 mi) from the Cyprus' shore, engine nr. 3 lost power, followed by engines nr. 1 and 2. Then, at 3,100 m (10,200 ft), 45 km (28 mi) offshore, engine nr.4 also lost power. Belly landing near Paphos, Cyprus after a 45 km (28 mi) glide. 0100
21 August 1963 1963 Aeroflot Tupolev Tu-124 Neva river ditching Tupolev Tu-124 Leningrad, Russia Fuel starvation Nose landing gear failed to properly retract after take off. Crew was unable to lock the gear in its extended position. The aircraft circled to expend fuel to reduce weight and fire hazards in the event a forced landing was made. The aircraft ran out of fuel and the pilot successfully ditched the plane in the Neva River without injury to passengers or crew. 052
30 May 1967 East African Airlines 5Y-ADA[3] Vickers VC10 Bombay, India Fuel starvation due to improper use of boost pumps Climbing through 15,000 ft. on departure from Bombay, all four engines lost power because of failure to use the fuel boost pumps, the flight engineer was sick in the lav. The engineer was retrieved by the purser and restored power, arresting the descent toward the Indian Ocean 0Unknown
December 1974 G-ASGL [3] Vickers VC10 South China Sea Fuel starvation due to fuel transfer error On a flight from Hong Kong to Tokyo, the flight engineer failed to switch tanks feeding the engines resulting in failure of all four engines. The aircraft suffered from Dutch Roll until the engineer returned and restarted the engines. 0Unknown
4 April 1977 Southern Airways Flight 242 Douglas DC-9 Georgia, USA Hail and water ingestion After entering a thunderstorm at 14,000 ft., both engines flamed out. Aircraft performed emergency landing on Georgia highway but struck gas station and exploded during rollout. 72 (incl. 9 on ground)85
2 December 1977 1977 Benghazi Libyan Arab Airlines Tu-154 crash Tupolev Tu-154 Near Benghazi, Libya Fuel starvation Intended destination airport was blanketed in fog and the aircraft could not successfully land, ran out of fuel while attempting to locate an alternate airport. A forced landing was made. 59165
28 December 1978 United Airlines Flight 173 Douglas DC-8 Portland, Oregon Fuel starvation Aircraft aborted first landing attempt due to possible landing gear failure. Excess fuel was dumped to reduce risk of fire in anticipation of a crash landing. Aircraft ran out of fuel and glided several miles before crashing within 10 miles of airport. 10189
24 June 1982 British Airways Flight 9 Boeing 747-200 Jakarta, Indonesia Volcanic ash ingestion En route at FL 370 when all engines failed. After 10 minutes of gliding 3 engines restarted and the flight landed. 0236
5 May 1983 Eastern Air Lines Flight 855 Lockheed L-1011 TriStar Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Florida Crew shut down an engine due to low oil pressure, then the remaining two engines failed due to loss of oil. After gliding for five minutes the shut-down engine was successfully restarted Made emergency landing at Miami International Airport; the running engine could not generate enough thrust for the aircraft to taxi to the gate 0172
23 July 1983 Air Canada Flight 143 ("Gimli Glider") Boeing 767-233 Gimli, Manitoba, Canada Ran out of fuel as a result of refuelling calculation error due to recent conversion to metric Glided to emergency landing, on a decommissioned runway that had been converted to a drag strip 069
19 August 1983 United Airlines Flight 310[4] Boeing 767-222 Over the Arapahoe National Forest west of Denver, Colorado Both engines flamed out due to fuel system contamination Crew restarted engines at 15,000 feet (4,600 m). Successfully landed in Denver. 0205
24 May 1988 TACA Flight 110 Boeing 737-3T0 New Orleans, Louisiana, USA Dual engine flameout due to water ingestion Glided to emergency off-airport landing on a levee. Aircraft undamaged in landing and subsequently flown out to New Orleans after engine replacement. 045
8 January 1989 British Midland Flight 092 Boeing 737-4Y0 M1 Motorway, Kegworth Blade fracture in left engine causing heavy vibrating and engine fire. Pilots shut down wrong engine. When the aircraft was diverted to East Midlands Airport, the vibrating returned, forcing pilots to shut down the remaining engine, attempting to glide to the airport, which was unsuccessful. The aircraft crashed onto the M1 motorway, skidding up onto a hill, 689 yards from the runway threshold. 47126
15 December 1989 KLM Flight 867 Boeing 747-406M Redoubt Volcano, Anchorage, Alaska Lost power in all four engines after flying through a cloud of volcanic ash Engines restarted, landed safely 0245
25 January 1990 Avianca Flight 52 Boeing 707-321B Cove Neck, New York While low on fuel, the plane was delayed numerous times on approach to JFK Airport due to bad weather. Ran out of fuel and crashed into a hillside on Long Island. 73158
27 December 1991 Scandinavian Airlines Flight 751 McDonnell Douglas MD-81 Gottröra, Sweden Ice sucked into the engines causing dual engine failure Crash landed in an open field near Gottröra. 0129
23 November 1996 Ethiopian Airlines Flight 961 Boeing 767 Indian Ocean, off Africa Hijacking, fuel starvation Aircraft was hijacked by Ethiopians who demanded to be flown to Australia. Plane ran out of fuel and ditched in the ocean off Comoro Islands. Aircraft broke apart on impact. 125175
12 July 2000 Hapag-Lloyd Flight 3378 Airbus A310-304 Vienna, Austria Ran out of fuel as a result of landing gear not retracted Glided for about 20 km (12 mi) before crash landing 500 metres (1,600 ft) short of the runway 0150
24 August 2001 Air Transat Flight 236 Airbus A330-24 Terceira Island, Azores Ran out of fuel 120 km (75 mi) from emergency airport as a result of a fuel leak Emergency landing. Aircraft glided for 19 minutes. 0306
16 January 2002 Garuda Indonesia Flight 421 Boeing 737 Indonesia Hail and water ingestion After entering a thunderstorm, both engines flamed out. Aircraft performed ditching on Bengawan Solo River, Indonesia. Stewardess was killed when aircraft struck a rock. 160
14 October 2004 Pinnacle Airlines Flight 3701 Bombardier CRJ-200 Jefferson City, Missouri Dual engine failure outside of flight envelope Both engines failed at high altitude and low speed. The plane stalled, but the stall was recovered at 38,000 feet. After several attempts to restart the engines, which were unable to be restarted due to core lock and excessively low airspeed, the plane had lost a large amount of altitude. The plane was unable to reach Jefferson City Memorial Airport and crashed 2.5 miles (4.0 km) from the airport. Both pilots were killed. 22
6 August 2005 Tuninter Flight 1153 ATR-72-202 Mediterranean Sea The aircraft had been fitted with the incorrect model of Fuel Indicator, which led to the incorrect assumption on the flight crew's behalf that they had adequate fuel for the flight. The engines failed about half way through the flight. The crew unsuccessfully attempted to restart the engines and attempted to ditch the aircraft at sea. The aircraft broke apart on impact. 1639
14 August 2005 Helios Airways Flight 522 Boeing 737-31S Grammatiko, Greece Flight crew incapacitation due to wrong setup of pressurization system After takeoff from Larnaca, Cyprus, the flight crew continued ascent despite a cabin pressurization warning, and were eventually incapacitated by lack of oxygen. The auto pilot flew the aircraft to Athens, Greece and entered a holding pattern, per its programmed flight plan. Eventually, as two F-16 fighter jets intercepted the airplane, they spotted that a flight attendant had gained access to the cockpit, but nearly simultaneously, both engines flamed out due to fuel exhaustion. The flight attendant, who was a student pilot, was unable to fly the aircraft in a gliding mode and it crashed near Grammatiko. 121121
15 January 2009 US Airways Flight 1549 Airbus A320-214 New York City Complete dual engine failure from bird strikes moments after takeoff from La Guardia Glided then successfully ditched in the Hudson River. 0155
13 April 2010 Cathay Pacific Flight 780[5] Airbus A330-342 South China Sea near Hong Kong Dual engine failure due to fuel contamination when approaching Hong Kong Engine restarted afterwards but not functioning properly. Success emergency landing at Hong Kong International Airport. 0322
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References

  1. ↑ http://ntl1.specialcollection.net/scripts/ws.dll?file&fn=8&name=S%3A\DOT_56GB\airplane%20accidents\websearch\041453.pdf
  2. ↑ "ASN Aircraft accident Ilyushin 18V YR-IMB Paphos". Aviation-safety.net. 1962-02-24. Retrieved 2013-08-28.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 "Incidents and Accidents". Vc10.net. Retrieved 2013-10-16.
  4. ↑ "ASN Aircraft accident Boeing 767-222 N609UA Denver, CO". Aviation-safety.net. Retrieved 2013-08-28.
  5. ↑ "Pilots reveal death-defying ordeal as engines failed on approach to Chek Lap Kok". South China Morning Post. 20 April 2014. Retrieved 2015-01-24.