Members of the Air League of Monaco had the pleasure of a dinner and speaker event with Captain Bob Pearson of Gimli Glider fame. The evening, kindly sponsored by the Stelios Philanthropic Foundation, was a great success with tickets sold-out in advance. The seated-dinner event started with a clip from the Discovery Channel’s documentary on the Gimli Glider incident focusing on the dramatic moments leading up to Captain Pearson’s remarkably skilful landing at Gimli. Prince Alvaro de Orleans-Bourbon interviewed Captain Pearson live on stage before opening up to questions and answers from our esteemed guests from the aviation world as well as members of the Air league of Monaco and gliding students. Our guests included representative of HSH Joel Bouzou, Chief Executive Officer at Air League UK Ian Morrison, Sustainability Lead of Air League UK Bridget Donaldson and easyJet Chief of Training Captain Mark Farquhar. We were also pleased to have representatives from Riviera Airport in attendance- Clemens Toussaint (Chairman) and General Salvatore Gagliano (Airport Manager). Captain Bob presented the Air League of Monaco with a limited edition model of Air Canada’s Boeing 767-200, C-GAUN as well as copies of Freefall, a book telling the story of the Gimli Glider incident.
The evening was a wonderful celebration of Captain Bob’s heroic actions in the face of imminent danger but also a reflection on the importance of training, experience and mentorship in aviation.
