this post was submitted on 26 Sep 2024
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Gimli Glider (en.wikipedia.org)
submitted 3 days ago by Plum to c/wikipedia
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[–] [email protected] 8 points 3 days ago

I thought that was when Aragorn had to toss Gimli across the gap.

[–] Donjuanme 4 points 3 days ago (1 children)
[–] Windex007 8 points 3 days ago (1 children)

The aircraft was carrying only 45% of its required fuel load.

Can't help but recall that 1kg/2.2lb is 45%

So... Incorrectly applied here may have been "is that lbs or kgs?" "They're the same thing, idiot" "oh ok"

[–] Donjuanme 5 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Fortunately it wasn't that bad, the surprising thing is how many times the math was checked.

A very unlikely series of events, but when you roll the dice a million times those things will happen.

More surprising is how well it was handled, I'm not sure what simulators they had at their disposal, but they were later recognized for the difficulty of their decision making and maneuvers, because in simulation other crews couldn't replicate what they'd done (also maybe white washing the whole ordeal)

[–] Windex007 5 points 3 days ago

I'm reading the source referenced by Wikipedia, and in it they say that yeah, they confused lbs for kgs.

[–] SirSamuel 3 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Admiral Cloudberg did an amazing write-up of this event. She can be found by that handle on Reddit and Medium. I'm pretty sure that article is on Medium by now.

Mentour has a good video on it too, but I'd recommend the Admiral's write-up first

[–] Plum 2 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

That's one of the things I miss most from reddit, tbh. I need to remember about medium.