Knowledge

If a plane ran out of fuel at 35,000 feet doing 550 mph, how far could a pilot coast the plane?

We have a real-word example of such a problem.

In 1983, Air Canada Flight 143, known now as the Gimli Glider, ran out of fuel at 41,000 feet. During the unpowered descent, the pilots empirically determined that the 767 had a glide ratio of 12:1, losing 1 foot of altitude for every 12 feet traveled.

It took 17 minutes from loss of fuel to landing.

Assuming a 12:1 glide ratio, a plane could go 420,000 feet (~79 miles) forward from 35,000 feet.

In real life, descent rate will vary based on the weather conditions, the aircraft design, payload, and piloting. There is no single answer.

Depends on what we’re talking about. This one was a terrible glider and won’t get very far:

This one would get quite far:

But the best one would be something that looks like this:

The easy estimate of how far an airplane can glide is the glide ratio, which is equivalent to the Lift/Drag ratio.

The numbers for those airplanes are approximately: 7–10 (Concorde), 18–20 (787), 25+ (U-2).

So as a rough estimate, multiply those numbers with the altitude to get the gliding distance: 65-ish miles (Concorde), 130-ish miles (787), 165-ish miles (U-2). Of course, this will be less in practice given that the airplane won’t just fly in one straight line all the way down and there might be other “real world” factors like wind that affect the aerodynamics.

Related Posts

Is it true that there is not a single scientific paper that has proven that carbon dioxide emissions are causing climate change?

Yes, it is true. Not. One. Paper. Guess what though? There’s also not a single paper that proves lead is poisonous. There’s also not a single piece of…

Why do people still believe the Earth orbits the Sun when it’s not factually true?

Physics education can be pretty well described as a series of lies of ever-decreasing size. Force is not exactly equal to mass times acceleration, it turns out you can push a rope…

Do submarines ever surface for better speed if they are in the middle of the ocean with a low chance of encountering a ship?

The bow wave of a large ship at 30 knots is a magnificent thing unless you are an engineer. For them it represents a massive waste of energy….

What is the most dangerous plant on planet Earth?

Wild parsnip plant (Pastinaca sativa). Warning :Graphic images I didn’t know about this plant or its toxicity until I saw a post by a lady in the USA…

Is it possible to terraform Sahara?

Human beings are such impatient creatures. So, you use ground penetrating radar on the Sahara and you know what you find? Rivers. Tons of them. Big and small….

How do navy divers deal with sharks during operations?

I worked with some SEALs during one of my Afghanistan deployments. One night, a SEAL told me a story about one of his swims in BUD/S. It was…

error: Content is protected !!