[photo from: https:\/\/robertpiche.com\/en-ca\/index.html](

I remember this news when I was a young adult student in Canada. At the time, I thought Capt. Piché was a hero (and still do) and that his drug mule aviation experience probably helped him to successfully glide the jet and passengers to safety. What are your thoughts?

Air Transat Flight 236 was a transatlantic flight bound for Lisbon, Portugal, from Toronto, Canada, that lost all engine power while flying over the Atlantic Ocean on August 24, 2001. The Airbus A330 ran out of fuel because of a fuel leak caused by improper maintenance. Captain Robert Piché, 48, and First Officer Dirk DeJager, 28, glided the plane to a successful emergency landing in the Azores, saving the lives of all 306 people (293 passengers and 13 crew) on board. This was also the longest passenger aircraft glide without engines, gliding for nearly 65 nautical miles (120 km; 75 mi). Following this unusual aviation accident, this aircraft was nicknamed the "Azores Glider". Selected text from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_Transat_Flight_236

After graduation, he worked for regional airlines until he was laid off by Quebecair. After being laid off, he worked odd jobs, which consisted of smuggling marijuana to the United States by plane. Beginning in November 1983, Piché served 16 months of a 5-year sentence in prison after a plane he landed solo at a small airfield in the state of Georgia was found to be full of marijuana smuggled from Jamaica. He was released on March 20, 1985. He was pardoned in 2000 and is considered fully rehabilitated. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Pich%C3%A9