30
votes
Accepted
What happens to Cessna electric flaps that are moving when power is lost?
Stays where it is. The mechanism is a leadscrew and like most leadscrews it's "self-locking", which means that it's held in position by frictional forces whenever the motor isn't turning and it can't ...
- 4,640
27
votes
Accepted
Is an autopilot failure an emergency?
It's not an emergency, but there is a significant workload increase because both pilots now have to be paying attention full time, with one watching the other flying, vs only one (watching the AP) ...
- 136k
22
votes
Accepted
In an engine failure, should I expect less range than with the engine in idle?
Yes to some degree. It depends on the idle rpm, prop pitch, engine compression and your gliding speed, but if the engine is off but windmilling, there is substantial drag from the energy needed to ...
- 136k
15
votes
Accepted
Nose gear failure in single prop aircraft: belly landing or nose landing?
The standard procedure is whatever is in the POH for your aircraft. This is from a C182RG POH:
LANDING WITH A DEFECTIVE NOSE GEAR (Or Flat Nose Tire)
Movable Load -- TRANSFER to baggage ...
- 72k
15
votes
Accepted
Why is training regarding the loss of RAIM given so much more emphasis than training regarding the loss of SBAS?
From a safety perspective RAIM is more critical than SBAS.
If you are flying using GPS, you always rely on RAIM to keep you safe, sometimes you need SBAS too.
Receiver Autonomous Integrity Monitor is ...
- 84.5k
13
votes
Is an autopilot failure an emergency?
I have hand-flown an airliner both sectors (there and back) on one occasion. It was 2 hours there and 2 hours back (dispatched with the autopilot inoperative) so in good weather it is not an issue. ...
- 1,666
10
votes
Accepted
What are some common aileron failures?
When talking about that sort of thing, you're really looking for single-point-of-failure weak links that are difficult to detect during a walkaround or inspection. Hinges don't normally just let go ...
- 136k
9
votes
Why is training regarding the loss of RAIM given so much more emphasis than training regarding the loss of SBAS?
The RAIM (Receiver autonomous integrity monitoring) is what allows you to fly using a GPS. If you lose RAIM, by regulations you cannot use the GPS to navigate. So, it should not be a surprise for you ...
- 2,141
8
votes
Accepted
How common is engine failure?
Engine failure is not that common. For a gas turbine engine, a press release by GE gives some data as a reference point. In 1995 they quoted various engines as having a dispatch rate of between 99.99% ...
- 4,543
8
votes
Accepted
Why do ADS-B outages occur without simultaneous RAIM outages?
RAIM (Receiver Autonomous Integrity Monitoring) is a function within an avaition GPS receiver. It uses redundant measurements for a consistency check to determine the intergrity of the position ...
- 84.5k
8
votes
In an engine failure, should I expect less range than with the engine in idle?
The answer to this is a definite "maybe".
YouTube personality Trent Palmer tested this very question. He was actually able to glide further with the engine off than he was with it at idle. It was a ...
- 12.8k
7
votes
How does a failed turn and slip indicator behave if the gyro isn't spinning at all?
It depends on how it fails, there are lots of possibilities on what caused it to stop spinning and they can all lead to different outcomes. In this instance it just kind of bobbed around as if it were ...
- 102k
7
votes
What does the Airspeed indicator show when your pitot tube is blocked?
If the pitot tube gets blocked in flight, such as by icing, the airspeed indication is maintained at first.
Note that the indication is still subject to changes in static pressure as long as the ...
- 3,000
7
votes
Accepted
What does the Airspeed indicator show when your pitot tube is blocked?
Depends on how much blockage. If fully blocked, as in air tight, the pitot side becomes like the sealed aneroid side of an altimeter and it only reacts to changes in static pressure, indicating the ...
- 136k
7
votes
Accepted
Do aircraft have backup systems to trim when they don't have trim wheels?
Yes, there is a backup system available when there is no trim wheel. On the Boeing 747, the stabilizer trim has two control modules, normal and alternate:
Stabilizer Trim
The stabilizer trim system ...
- 58.3k
6
votes
Can the 737 Max autopilot be engaged when some sensors have failed?
The following applies to the Boeing 737 NG series, but probably there are no large differences for the MAX series.
The FCOMv2 (4.20.2 Automatic Flight - System Description) mentions only the ...
- 58.3k
5
votes
Accepted
Do all Bombardier jets have manual reversion?
Can't speak for the Lear, which I believe has manual controls anyway, but the CRJs DO NOT have manual reversion. The RJs are designed to a technical level similar to the Boeing 767.
The control ...
- 136k
5
votes
How does a failed turn and slip indicator behave if the gyro isn't spinning at all?
Turn coordinators have a number of failure modes because they are normally electrically powered and depend on very precise gyro RPM, so the gyro motor runs on fixed frequency 115v ac and there is a ...
- 136k
5
votes
Nose gear failure in single prop aircraft: belly landing or nose landing?
While technically not one of the choices you asked about, you may not be aware of a quasi-third option you should consider.
Make a pass down the runway and "bang it on the mains" a couple of times to ...
- 151
4
votes
Accepted
Can a 737NG still fly when every single electric run device/system is dead?
TLDR: Yes, the 737 can still fly, the gear can be lowered and one can brake after landing.
A complete failure of every single electrical system is extremely unlikely. The QRH (Quick Reference ...
- 58.3k
4
votes
Accepted
How to handle vacuum and turn coordinator failure in IMC?
This isn't exactly your scenario but at my last instrument checkride the DPE asked me how I would descend from VFR-on-top through a solid cloud layer following complete electrical and vacuum failure (...
- 72k
4
votes
Nose gear failure in single prop aircraft: belly landing or nose landing?
Typically in that situation, you would land with the gear down and lower the nose as gently to the ground as possible after touchdown. Nose gear failures are the easiest of all gear up
landings to ...
- 75.1k
3
votes
Can the 737 Max autopilot be engaged when some sensors have failed?
It depends. There are some failures that inhibit both autopilots, and others that may affect only one. Also, policy may be more restrictive -- the QRH may direct not engaging the affected-side ...
- 53.7k
3
votes
Accepted
Why/how is a downplane parachute configuration aerodynamically stable?
The parachutes are both being pulled straight down from a single point. That means the relative airflow, or angle of attack, is straight up. Lift is perpendicular to the AOA. Even if the parachutes ...
- 136k
3
votes
How many landings per year are performed using the integrated standby instrument system?
None, as far as I have ever heard of. There may be an instance out there of failure of both/all of the INS’s or displays, but in the airline world at least, it would have to be absurdly uncommon.
It ...
- 53.7k
3
votes
What does the Airspeed indicator show when your pitot tube is blocked?
If the Pitot is ice over or plugged by a bug in flight, the ASI will indicate the speed at the time it was block as long as the pressure remains constant in the bourdon tube. The ASI will change with ...
- 31
3
votes
What would cause a non-zero indicated airspeed reading on the ground?
A mechanical blockage inside the airspeed gauge could prevent the needle from dropping all the way back to zero -- assuming the aircraft had exceeded 200 KIAS in the first place.
Whether this or the ...
- 17.3k
3
votes
Accepted
Can a commercial aircraft fly at night with complete navigation and communication equipment failure?
For the sake of the IFR/In the blind answer, lets assume that for this question at least the backup attitude and airspeed indicators are working and the pilot can in some capacity fly the plane in the ...
- 102k
3
votes
Is an autopilot failure an emergency?
As an aside: There is at least one instance where an autopilot failure or unintended disconnect is an emergency: when you fly a plane into icing conditions on autopilot, and the autopilot ...
- 22.2k
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