Departure
95%
vs 95%
MY FS FLIGHTS
MY FS FLIGHTS
Gimli Industrial Park Airport lies a few kilometres west of the town of Gimli, Manitoba, on the site of a former Royal Canadian Air Force station that trained pilots under the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan. Today it is a quiet civilian aerodrome home to flying clubs, cadet gliding and skydiving operations, and it holds a place in aviation history as the landing site of the famous 1983 "Gimli Glider" incident.
Gimli Industrial Park Airport is a civilian aerodrome operated by the Rural Municipality of Gimli, occupying part of the site of the former RCAF Station Gimli. It sits alongside the Gimli Business Park and is used by a mix of general aviation tenants, including a provincial water bomber squadron, a flight training and charter operator, a helicopter training company, air cadet gliding and cadet flight training units, and a skydiving club. For the simulator pilot it is notable both for its long, well-preserved wartime-era runway and for its connection to the 1983 Air Canada Boeing 767 dead-stick landing that made it famous worldwide as the Gimli Glider site.
The airfield lies about 2 nautical miles west of the town of Gimli, Manitoba, roughly a 45 minute drive north of Winnipeg off Provincial Trunk Highway 8 and Provincial Road 231. It shares its site with the Gimli Business Park. The aerodrome is uncontrolled, with pilots expected to operate on the published mandatory frequency rather than under air traffic control.
The airfield has a single physical runway, 15/33, roughly 6,790 to 6,800 feet long, with a hard surface and runway lighting. It is one of the longest rural runways in the region. A second, parallel wartime-era runway has been decommissioned and much of its length is now incorporated into the Gimli Motorsports Park circuit adjacent to the airfield.
The aerodrome operates on an Aircraft/Ground and UNICOM frequency of 122.15 MHz. An Automated Weather Observation System (AWOS) is also provided, broadcasting on 122.975 MHz. There is no instrument landing system at the field.
The field lies west of the town of Gimli, just off Highway 8 and Provincial Road 231, co-located with the Gimli Business Park. The adjacent Gimli Motorsports Park, built on part of the former parallel runway, is a useful visual landmark when approaching from the air.
The airfield opened as RCAF Station Gimli and served through the Second World War as the home of Service Flying Training School No. 18 under the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan. The station closed in September 1971, after which the site transitioned to civilian use. It became internationally known in July 1983 when an Air Canada Boeing 767 (registration C-GAUN) ran out of fuel in flight and glided to a safe emergency landing on the decommissioned runway, now part of Gimli Motorsports Park, an aircraft afterwards known as the Gimli Glider. In August 1992 the airfield was the site of a fatal accident when a turbine-converted de Havilland Canada DHC-4 Caribou crashed during climb-out shortly after a short takeoff, killing three people; the cause was traced to failure to deactivate the aircraft's gust lock system.
The airfield today supports a range of flying activity, including the Manitoba government's water bomber squadron, the Gimli Cadet Flight Training Centre, the 182 GM Stefnusfastur Squadron of the Royal Canadian Air Cadets, Interlake Aviation's flight school and charter service, and Prairie Helicopters' helicopter charter and training operation. It is also used as a skydiving drop zone by Skydive Manitoba and has in recent summers hosted air cadet glider training as the Regional Gliding School (Northwest). No. 435 Transport and Rescue Squadron from 17 Wing Winnipeg also uses the field for training. A small terminal building with washroom facilities is available for aircrew flight planning near the former control tower, and there are no landing or short-term parking fees.
