Air Canada May Lose Luggage But Finds a Yacht

October 17, 2012 by Gerry Wingenbach
3 Comments

FT member tcook052 has posted the good-news story of the week. Imagine this. You’re cruising around 35,000 ft. on an AC flight headed to Australia, about an hour out of Sydney. There’s nothing but blue sky and a bluer Pacific outside your window seat. The Canadian pilot gets on the PA and says something like:  We’re going to make a little diversion. Maybe drop 30,000 ft. and a 100 miles off course. Could you help me look for a yacht in trouble down there?

Here’s what CTV News said:

Passengers and crew aboard an Air Canada flight are being credited for their assistance in locating a yacht and its crew in distress off the coast of Australia.

Air Canada flight 033 from Vancouver and another Air New Zealand jet, flying from Auckland, were headed to Sydney when they were both asked to divert course.

The Australian Maritime Safety Authority was investigating the signal from an emergency beacon activated at 8:15 a.m. local time Tuesday morning, and wanted help confirming the GPS location.

Flight crew and passengers aboard the Air Canada flight, peering out the windows from an altitude of approximately 6,000 feet, helped locate the yacht 275 nautical miles east of Sydney.

Imagine!

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Comments (Showing 3 of 3)

  • AaronBradford at 4:31pm October 17, 2012

    I think 30,000 ft is supposed to read 3,000 ft ;)

  • mountainpost at 5:16pm October 17, 2012

    Thanks AB. I wrote that blog and thanks for sugar-coating your comment with a smiley. But here’s the story in Canada’s national newspaper, The Globe & Mail. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/air-canada-crew-helps-rescue-sailor-in-the-south-pacific/article4615310/ .They report:
    After making sure there was enough fuel, the crew of the Boeing 777 descended from an altitude of 7,500 metres to just 1,800 metres, said Air Canada spokesman Peter Fitzpatrick.

    I think my math is correct. But again, thank you.

  • mountainpost at 5:55pm October 17, 2012

    Again, thanks AaronBradford. I was sloppy with my math and it seems the AC flight dropped about 19,000 feet and flew about 300 miles off course. I love how FlyerTalk is self-cleaning. Even if I’m the fool. But it is a neat story on the part of AC.

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