Author Nocturnalkitee Posted October 20, 2004 Author Share Posted October 20, 2004 My trip to New York was a good one. I made it back home safe!!! I had a wonderful flight both ways. Thanks to everyone for your support! Link to post Share on other sites
verbatim Posted October 31, 2004 Share Posted October 31, 2004 Realize this, a fixed wing aircraft in a sense "wants to fly" as long as you have sufficient altitude. If an engine goes out the aircraft will not suddenly divebomb out of control towards the ground like in the movies. All fixed wing aircraft will glide if the engines fail, and if you are cruising around where most airlines do ( usually around 30,000-40,000 ft) the pilot has more than enough range/altitude and time to make a safe landing. It could easily glide 100 nautical miles at that altitude. Also, airliners have atleast 2 engines or more, so if one fails on takeoff, one engine running will be enough to remain airborne and land back on the runway. It also might be reassuring that these pilots have logged thousands of hours and have been drilled with engine out and emergency procedures ever since they started flying little Cessna trainers. I dont have the stats to prove this, but you are more likely to get killed driving to the airport than flying out of it. Link to post Share on other sites
Author Nocturnalkitee Posted November 1, 2004 Author Share Posted November 1, 2004 Originally posted by verbatim All fixed wing aircraft will glide if the engines fail, and if you are cruising around where most airlines do ( usually around 30,000-40,000 ft) the pilot has more than enough range/altitude and time to make a safe landing. It could easily glide 100 nautical miles at that altitude. I would like to thank everyone for their support again. Extra thanks to Moimeme for the phobia web-site!! I want to especially thank Frequent Flyer for connecting me with the Taking Flight Forum since I have another trip coming up during Christmas. Verbatim I have a question for you!! How can a plane glide safely to the ground without people dying? Because what I'm thinking once the plane touches the ground and keeps moving, it will rip apart. Link to post Share on other sites
verbatim Posted November 1, 2004 Share Posted November 1, 2004 There are tons of airports all over the US, and given you are high enough to glide 40 or 50 miles, the pilot should be able to find a runway. It might not be an international airport but there are plenty of municiple, military, and abandoned airstrips to land at. I dont know much about the systems on airliners, but supposedly there is some kind of ram air turbine that will power an auxilary hydryaulic system to control the airlerons, rudder, and flaps (flight controls). Im not sure how the landing gear come out but there is some kind of backup for them also. Even though it would be a forced landing, the pilot can put it down on the gear and brake, thus preventing it from being torn apart. Airline captains are at the top of chain in aviation, they probably have a few engine failure under their belts already (not in airliners!!) and can deal with the situation. My point being is, if you have an engine failure, by no means is all hope lost, infact your chances are pretty good. That is, unless I am your pilot or you are in the middle of the ocean, I think they have rafts onboard though. BTW if you are afraid to fly in helicopters, you should be But even they can do something similar to gliding called an autorotation, just the results can be pretty ugly sometimes. They are way more mechanically and aerodynamically complex, fly lower, in the way of obstacles, and are very power hungry. I'd reccomend that you stay out of them but that wouldnt be right because they are way too fun. Link to post Share on other sites
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