Linked Questions
18 questions linked to/from How far can airplanes glide?
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How long can a passenger aircraft glide without engine power? [duplicate]
Assuming that the aircraft is cruising at 36000 ft and lost engine power, how long could a passenger aircraft glide?
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Why don't pilots parachute from small planes that are in distress?
There was another question that asked why commercial flights don't have parachutes. The almost ubiquitous response was that the parachutes would be useless because:
Most accidents with commercial ...
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Why does flight training usually start with (unsafe?) propeller planes and not with (safer?) jets?
I live in the UK and would like to learn flying jets, but most courses seem to start with propeller planes.
Not sure if this might be a misconception about the safety of different aircraft types, but ...
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Why would a glider have water ballast? If it is trying to stay aloft without an engine, wouldn't it be better to be as light as possible?
So I was looking at the description of a ASW 27 B glider and ran across this statement:
Two water tanks in the wing plus a further 35 liter tank in the
fuselage enable the ASW 27 B to carry more ...
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Is landing without engine power routinely feasible?
Considering that airplanes are very noisy, could one routinely land them with the engines turned off, gliding onto the runway? Could the engines be started fast enough for an emergency situation?
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Do jet aircraft have a better glide ratio than propeller aircraft in general? If so, why?
Being fond of aviation, I play with software simulators a lot.
I have noticed that while jets seem to be able to glide for a long distance even at zero throttle, propeller aircraft need to be ...
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Is there anything important to know about flying at ~9000ft for the first time?
When I did my NPPL training, there was a module on flying at minimum altitude, but nothing around high altitude flying, in fact, I've never flown over 3,500ft.
This weekend, I intend to fly up to ...
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How are the glide polar and L/D ratio charts related?
We know from other questions and answers that airplanes and gliders in particular can have their performance described in terms of glide polar and Lift-to-Drag ratio.
As it appears from the images in ...
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How does the Boeing 787 Dreamliner's glide ratio compare to other airliners?
I just saw a documentary on the design of the Boeing 787 "Dreamliner" and one of the designers said that the wings were inspired by gliders. Looking at the production version of the plane, it is ...
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For a large commercial plane on landing, does the L/D ratio increase, decrease, or not change much?
Consider a large commercial aircraft coming in for landing. The exact part I'm interested in is the flare (where the aircraft noses up yet does not actually go higher above the ground), with flaps ...
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What is a (rough) rule of thumb for calculating fuel consumption in a modern jet airliner like Boeing 737 - 300?
I'm wondering what would be a rough rule of thumb for calculating the fuel consumption of a modern airliner like a Boeing 737 - 300.
I am not asking for anything from the plane's manual or even a ...
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1
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How is the glide ratio affected when converting a wheeled plane to floats?
I'm looking for published data that describe the effect on glide ratio when an aircraft is converted from wheeled to float configuration. I suspect that the glide ratio goes down considerably due to ...
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How does a headwind affect the distance that a modern passenger jet can glide?
If in an emergency and a modern passenger aircraft had to glide, will it make a big difference if the aircraft had a headwind rather than having to glide downwind to nearest airport?
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What does a pilot do if all the engine shut down in the middle of the Ocean?
In case of a commercial aircraft, what is the plan B for making an emergency landing in the middle of e.g. the North Atlantic Ocean?
I know it's very unlikely but still a possible situation. The plane ...
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For how long can an Embraer E195 airplane glide at malfunction?
E195 specs:
Maximum Takeoff Weight 52,290 kg
Max Cruise Speed M 0.82
Cruise altitude: 35000 feet
Assume the weather condition is perfect (no clouds or gust winds). Also assume this airplane is fully ...
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What's the optimal cruise lift to drag ratio of the Piaggio Avanti?
I'm interested in the maximum L/D this plane can achieve. I can't find the necessary data to do the calculation myself.
If I knew the "long range cruise" engine power and assumed 85% ...
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Sources for Aircraft Glide Ratio
I would like to gather data on the best glide ratio of different commercial aircraft. Unfortunately, it has proven non-trivial to obtain data aside from a few lucky examples.
Eurocontrol's BADA gives $...
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Thought experiment: can an aircraft that is dropped from the sky get into gliding? [duplicate]
Here's a totally hypothetical question that came up in a discussion with friends:
If a commercial aircraft (say, an Airbus A320) was "dropped" from a typical cruising altitude (say, 35,000ft) with a ...
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