Questions tagged [airliner]
An airliner is a large, commercial aircraft operated by an airline for transporting people and/or cargo.
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Are hydraulic retractible landing gear possible
One of the impediments and drawbacks to extending landing gear in light of building larger engines are the larger space required for the taller gear. Would hydraulic retractable gear that works as a ...
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1answer
21 views
Are taller landing gear bad for aircraft, particulary large airliners?
Buiding larger engines for larger aircraft as opposed to smaller but many engines has proved to result in more fuel efficiency.
Having established one of the main drawbacks or impediments to building ...
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1answer
282 views
Why did the Mercure fail?
The Dassault Mercure was a French regional jet that first flew in 1971 and received its type certificate in February 1974; it resembled an enlarged, shorter-range 737-200, and was designed to serve ...
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3answers
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What happens to unstrapped passengers if the airliner were to fly inverted [on hold]
If for some reason or the other, because of an emergency, or perhaps craving jail time or did not want her job, or perhaps a girls will be girls moment, a pilot and her captain decided to fly a large ...
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5answers
256 views
Do horizontal stabilisers provide any lift?
Do jumbo and smaller airliners' horizontal stabilizers provide any lift? Apart from maintaining the aircraft's angle of attack, can they perform the dual function that includes adding some lift as ...
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2answers
118 views
What is a 73W aircraft [duplicate]
With all the issues surrounding the Ethiopia crash can you tell me what a 73W is? Is it a 737 Max 8. We're trying to figure out if our flights with Westjet on Friday might be effected.
Thanks
...
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2answers
208 views
Are any airlines actually flying the Comac ARJ21?
The Comac ARJ21, China's answer to Embraer's regional jets, was launched with great fanfare in 2016. However, if FlightRadar24 is to be believed, launch customer Chengdu Airlines does not appear to ...
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1answer
227 views
What is the stability of a 777-like plane if the engines flameout and the autopilot disconnects and the pilots don't make any inputs?
According to Wikipedia:
If no control inputs were made following flameout and the disengagement of autopilot, the aircraft would likely have entered a spiral dive and entered the ocean within 20 ...
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1answer
125 views
What is this aviation quote?
I remember hearing a quote about aviation that was something along the lines of “asking a pilot why he loves flight is like asking an artist (or a painter?).....”. For the life of me, I cannot ...
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1answer
124 views
How to understand the kinematics principle behind landing gear retraction system (or 4 bars system)? [closed]
I would like to know about the principles of landing gear retraction system and I struggle to find clear information about it.
It seems to be about a four bar systems in most cases but I would like ...
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1answer
106 views
Who made the first high-wing jet airliner?
I thought the only high-wing jet airliners were made by the Soviets but the British Aerospace RJ-100 and Dash 6 series twizzled my mind.
So who made the first high-wing jet airliner?
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Why there are nearly no upper wing jetliners? [duplicate]
Whenever I look at the western airliners. All of their wings are always mounted on the lower part of the fuselage except the Dash 8 series which have turbo props.
But the Soviet jetliners have their ...
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1answer
269 views
When does a passenger plane leave the cruising phase?
I have Flightradar24 data here. Which are in the following structure.
...
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2answers
164 views
What are the issues involved in converting a quadjet into a twinjet?
As you are probably all aware already, the fewer engines you have, the better your fuel efficiency; that’s why the airlines are selling off their (quadjet) 747s and buying (twinjet) 777s, why they’ve ...
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2answers
214 views
Did Boeing or Lockheed ever seriously consider releasing a widebody airliner powered by low-bypass engines?
During the 1960s race to build the first widebody jetliner, each of the three major engine manufacturers was racing to put out a high-bypass engine for one of those jumbo jets:
Boeing went with Pratt ...
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4answers
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Is 'bouncing' an airliner on landing in high winds a deliberate technique, or something always unexpected?
Last week, 767 landing at Newark, high winds, a good deal of rocking in the last few minutes, some passengers quite distressed. The landing was harder and noisier than usual, and we immediately ...
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4answers
180 views
Do airline pilots use speed stability to cope with unreliable airspeed indications? If not, why not?
There have been a couple of airline accidents in which unreliable airspeed indications (or the fear thereof) have played a role:
Birgenair Flight 301 in 1996, where one of the pitot tubes was blocked,...
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2answers
168 views
Do any aircraft automatically test that the pitot-static system is functioning properly before liftoff?
Given that a properly-functioning pitot-static system is absolutely essential for flight (a plane cannot be flown without valid airspeed data, or at least not for long), are there aircraft that ...
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1answer
159 views
Was this a near collision or a normal procedure? [duplicate]
I flew on a plane from UK to Spain a couple of days ago (FR7542, 15/01/19 16:30) and in the middle of the flight I could see another plane (a private jet much smaller) just flying underneath us.
From ...
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1answer
294 views
Will we ever see a single-engined airliner? [closed]
Given the trend in the industry to move towards aircraft with two engines, could it ever occur that we see an aircraft manufacturer develop an airliner with just one?
I'm suspecting the answer is no, ...
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5answers
3k views
Why didn't Boeing or Douglas make a jet airliner before the British DH Comet?
I was looking at the history of commercial aircraft and was wondering why UK-based De Havilland was the first to produce a jet powered airliner (the DH 106 Comet) when the US had a much bigger civil ...
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3answers
288 views
How often does an airline pilot use the rudder pedals during flight?
How often does an airline pilot use the rudder pedals during flight? Is it only during takeoff and landing?
I am interested to know the rudder pedal usage time in minutes per average short range ...
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1answer
113 views
What is the acceptable position of the brake wear indication for A320?
What is the acceptable position of the brake wear indication (PIN) for an A320 to be safely dispatchable?
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1answer
530 views
Can pilots smoke in the cockpit of an airliner?
An answer on travel.se suggests that some pilots are smoking on long-distance passenger flights.
Can passenger airliner pilots smoke if both the captain and first officer agree it’s ok? If I recall, ...
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1answer
105 views
Does the FAA allow a jet bridge to approach an aircraft that has engine #2 running?
Does the FAA allow a jet bridge to approach an aircraft that has engine #2 running?
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2k views
Is the bleed air passengers breathe tapped from the engines before or after it comes in contact with fuel? And why? Isn't this unhealthy?
Passengers are often surprised to hear that the air they breathe comes from inside the engines.
This sounds unhealthy. Can you explain, why it is not ?
Is bleed air tapped (for cabin pressurization) ...
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0answers
105 views
Which individual aircraft has carried the most passengers in its lifetime?
I'm guessing that the aircraft will be one of the 747s that service the domestic Japanese market, making regular short hops full of passengers - but perhaps actual figures exist to confirm this.
See ...
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1answer
159 views
Which airliners have carried the most passengers?
I'm fairly sure that the Boeing 737 series will be in first place, with the Airbus A320 family coming second and perhaps the 727 third.
However, perhaps there are some estimates of actual figures ...
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1answer
109 views
Detecting faults in CVR mic inputs
Years ago my father worked for Eastern Airlines out of Miami (that should give you a timeframe) and he was an electrical engineer. I recall once he told me that the pilots (one or more) used to ...
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1answer
133 views
How can I identify airliner types that don't have ACARS?
Is there a way to identify what commercial airliners are still flying without ACARS today? Most modern commercial airliners are equipped, but I know some 737s still fly without ACARS, for example.
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How much fuel does an airliner consume at various stages of operation? [duplicate]
I used to think that almost all of an airliner's fuel consumption was during actual flight; but it seems that even while on the tarmac or at a gate it consumes a non-negligible amount.
So, in general ...
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0answers
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When were the last subsonic turbojet-powered airliners retired from commercial passenger service?
The very first jetliners (Comet, Tu-104, Caravelle I-VI, 707-120/-220/-320, DC-8 series 10-30, original 720, CV-880) all used turbojet engines, turbofans not being available until later; when ...
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6answers
8k views
Why then don't aircraft fly even higher, for even greater efficiency? [duplicate]
After reading various superb QA on here I now see that (basically) aircraft are more efficient per passenger-mile, at higher altitudes.
Why don't we go even higher, than current typical airliner ...
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1answer
197 views
Lift to drag ratio of airliners
I don't know if this is the right place to ask, but I am looking for lift-to-drag ratios (L/D) of different airliners. I have found a paper [1] which has some estimates of L/D for some jetliners, but ...
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4answers
24k views
How did the 9/11 hijackers find their way to New York City?
It is quite well known that the airplane hijackers on 9/11 were not professional pilots. So, my question is how some people who didn't have any experience of navigating the airplanes could find their ...
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2answers
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Why aren't there any widebody propliners for the high-density short-haul markets?
Jetliners come in both narrowbody (one aisle) and widebody (two or more aisles) versions, but all propliners, to the best of my knowledge, are narrowbody aircraft.
Now, granted, one of the big ...
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0answers
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Can audible warnings be heard from the cabin?
When I fly in the front row on an all-economy A320, I can very clearly hear the autopilot disconnect sound shortly before landing.
Can passengers in the cabin also hear other warnings like EGPWS (...
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2answers
418 views
How and how often are the oxygen masks in the cabin checked?
Looking at this old answer I can see that oxygen masks check is mandatory for the flight deck. What about passenger masks?
Is this check done daily on airliners?
How is this check conducted and what ...
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3answers
348 views
Why does load shedding still occur in jetliners (e.g., 787) when there is so much power available?
I had a few questions about how electrical generator works on an aircraft, the 787 to be specific although I know it is similar for all aircraft.
So the 787 engines have 2 VFSG each which are rated ...
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2answers
107 views
What are the technical details of how airline seats are installed on an airliner? [closed]
What are the technical details of how airline seats are installed on an airliner? The step by step. Not made how they are installed.
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1answer
184 views
If an airline purchases an aircraft, do they have to/feel compelled to change the livery?
If an airline purchases a used commercial aircraft, which would be painted in the livery of its previous owner, would the new airline ever be required (by law) to re-paint the aircraft in their own ...
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2answers
134 views
What is the 'fuel cost' of a pneumatic braking system vs. a hydraulic one, in terms of weight?
A pneumatic braking system has indisputable advantages over a hydraulic braking system for large and heavy aircraft in terms of braking force and secondary perhaps in terms of weight (pipes and ...
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1answer
352 views
How much fuel does an airliner consume during passenger boarding?
As I understand, sometimes APU is running during the passenger boarding. How much fuel do the APU consume during this process?
Of course, it must depend on the total boarding time, so I think it ...
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2answers
2k views
What are the most challenging taxi manoeuvres that a typical commercial airline pilot must execute?
I am currently involved in a University level modelling excercise which looks to investigate the handling qualities of a novel nose wheel steering system.
As part of this study, I am interested in ...
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2answers
442 views
Why two passenger airplanes travel side by side?
Recently (2018-08-19 17:40 UTC) two planes flew above my city (Poznań, Poland). They were heading in the same direction, kept really close distance (side by side) - both flights to Riga:
https://www....
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5answers
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Why do airliners have to park so accurately?
I was watching some airport documentary and I noticed that the planes always had to park precisely. I honestly didn't think so much of it before, but in the documentary, an aircraft parked badly ...
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4answers
20k views
Has any passenger airliner ever offered forward-facing windows?
The empty, dolphin-like, forehead of the A380 seems like it would be an amazing place for the first and/or business class bar, especially if it had forward-facing windows.
I realize in the A380's ...
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1answer
417 views
Why did my flight descend for landing then suddenly climb steeply and turn sharply?
I was flying on a Vueling flight (VLG6251) from Rome, Italy to Orly, France on the 31st of December 2017. During landing, my plane went to a really low altitude as if it was about to land but there ...
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1answer
366 views
If everybody jumps in an airliner, would the pilots notice? [duplicate]
I often have this thought when stretching my legs on a long haul flight: jump up and down in the cabin and see whether the pilots complain. Alone, it is unlikely my weight would have any noticeable ...
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2answers
300 views
What would happen if pilots were locked out of the flight deck?
Imagine in a hypothetical situation that a commercial airliner was left on autopilot at some cruising altitude. Next imagine that all pilots left the flight deck and the door slammed shut behind them (...
