The Gimli Glider airplane accident is one of those things that seems stranger than fiction. Like, due to a series of communication and conversion errors, a Boeing 767 ends up taking off with a quarter of the fuel it should and loses both engines while cruising at 41,000 feet over rural Canada, which seems like a recipe for disaster because, while the plane can glide without fuel, there's not enough speed to make it to the nearest airport. HOWEVER, the first officer used to serve in the Royal Canadian Air Force and remembers there's a disused air base within their distance range. Yay! BUT they're not descending fast enough and will overshoot the airport and have no way to change the plane's speed. Oh no! HOWEVER, the captain flies unpowered gliding planes in his spare time and knows a strategy to slow it down by basically turning the plane nearly sideways so that the drag on the fuselage slows it down. If he's careful enough, he'll be able to land the plane at the old air force base. Yay! BUT it turns out that one of the runways is now used for drag racing and it's race day with people on the runway. Yikes! THANKFULLY everyone got out of the way and the plane stopped without hitting anyone and with only minor injuries to any passengers. Utterly absurd.
