(09-13-2011 07:33 PM)oldnemesis Wrote: - Assuming it happening in a full flight, every certified airplane here is able to land safely (without structural damage) with ALL engines failed, and every airline pilot can do it. This is called "deadstick landing" and is part of getting the commercial pilot license. In fact you can buy MS Flight Simulator and try it yourself; you'll be surprised how quite easy it is.
yes and no. It depends on the aircrafts location at the event of complete engine failure and its glide ratio. A glide ratio is the function of how far a plane can go glide from a certain altitude. For example: Without pulling up stats for specific aircraft a 20:1 glide ratio would be good. It would be able to glide for 200km for every 10,000 feet of altitude. So assuming a cruise altitude of 30,000 with a complete engine failure, a pilot would have a 600km radius for landing options.
He would announce the emergency to Air Traffic Control and they would vector him into the most suitable airport.
However the loss of engine power can cause the hydraulics to fail due to not being powered. In these cases back-up systems (either back-up pumps or an auxillary power unit/ram-air turbine) will take over.
So It really becomes an issue of altitude. Complete engine failure at 200' on takeoff and your fucked. At 30,000 feet you are in better shape.
Complete engine failures are extremely rare. The normal cause would either be lack of fuel or bad fuel (dirty fuel clogging injection ports causing engine to flameoute). The former is prevented by computer software, performance calculations prior to every flight, and in flight fuel checks. The latter is prevented by mandatory fuel sampling and inspection prior to flight.
Quote:- Every airplane I know can continue the flight with one engine failed (some won't be able to gain altitude though)
This time it is a function of airspeed and gross weight (temperature and pressure altitude also play a factor). The pilots will know what their maximum gross weight for single engine flight is prior to takeoff.
So what happens if the aircraft does not have single engine capability (defined as able to maintain current flight conditions on one engine)? It simply just increases the glide distance. It will be a slower controlled descent.
Not an issue or real cause for alarm.
Quote:- Statistically the most dangerous part of your flight is first 90 seconds during the takeoff. Once you're in the sky, you're much safer than driving in your car. An engine failure during the takeoff may be fatal if the pilot doesn't react properly (however this is kind of situation which the pilots are being trained VERY extensively on simulators)
Right on. Wind your watch, when you feel the wheels come off start counting. once your about two minutes you will be set. Contrary to the fear of heights, the higher a plane is the safer you are. No one has ever died from colliding with the ski.
About the final two minutes of landing are also dangerous. If it is a clear blue ski and the winds are calm, you have nothing to worry about. If the weather is real shitty and winds are gusting then it becomes more dangerous. Just remember how many times that pilot has landed, if he is not comfortable he will perform a go around.
A go around is nothing more than pulling full power, initiating a climb, and aborting the landing to come around for a second try. These are trained constantly and are one of the easiest maneuver a pilot could perform.
Quote:- A functional airplane will fly, approach, and (at some airport) even land on its own. Basically the pilot's job there is to take off, turn on the GPS and talk to ATC until the flight is over (at some airports they'd have to flare the plane too). Now when someone goes broken, then it is when the pilot's experience is needed and may be the difference between life and death.
Yeah commercial airplanes are ridiculously easy to fly. Pilots rarely have to even touch the controls. Altitude and Headings are input into a computer, automated flight control systems make sure the it remains where it supposed to be, and GPS has full control authority.
There are very few emergency procedures that require immediate "oh-shit" style actions. Those are trained constantly.
All others are normally "well crap, we got a master caution light, bust out the checklist." And then you take your time and go step by step by the checklist.
Good input nemesis, I just wanted to expand on it a bit.
So lets address your three main fears you posted
1.Fear of height: During an emergency time is precious. The more time a pilot has the better he can correctly assess the situation and perform the appropriate actions. Time is your friend. Altitude is time, so altitude is your friend. First 90-120 seconds of take off is the only time to be concerned.
2. Technical Problems: Every day an aircraft goes into maintenance for its "daily," topping off fluids and other basic maintenance functions. Prior to flight every aircraft must undergo a pre-flight inspection. A visual/mechanical check of all essential components. After landing a post-flight inspection is performed to check for any damage that occurred in flight. Aircraft are only allowed to fly a certain amount of hours before they go into a major maintenance period. The FAA and the airlines have certain no-go tests that are required prior to every flight (or first flight of day), if any of these tests are failed the aircraft is not allowed to fly.
Now on to emergency procedures. To maintain currency in an aircraft (be legal to fly) pilots must go through annual flights test, written tests, and no-notice periodic evaluations. Emergency procedures are ALWAYS tested in these. Most emergency procedures should hardly be called emergencies, they are simple "follow the checklist" procedures where one pilot will read the step out loud and the other pilot will perform it (manipulating switches, resetting circuit breakers, etc). In a commercial fixed wing aircraft there are really no "oh-shit, do it now" type procedures.
The majority of pilots go through their entire careers without facing a real emergency procedure. However, they are tested on them constantly.
3. MidAir collision - Every aircraft has a transponder that sends its location to ATC. To operate in an around major airports (Class-B airspace) you need an transponder with mode c (will report your altitude as well as position to ATC) and ATC clearance to enter. So within 30 nautical miles of a major airport everything is controlled from the ground and the pilots just follow commands.
MidAirs normally only occur with private pilots in uncontrolled airspace (which an airline will never fly in) in low visibility conditions. Id be more worried about the taliban sneaking terminator on board before I would worry about a Midair.
SO how do you overcome it?
1. Educate yourself. We tend to fear what we do not understand. Hopefully I cleared up a few things.
2. Drink. because it is fun and will loosen you up.
3. Watch movies or anything else to take your mind of it.
4. Take a couple flying lessons. See #1.
5. Do some NLP stuff if the above fails.
6. Hit on flight attendant, however they are rarely hot these days
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