just wondering

Pro Member First Officer
rickypig112 First Officer

i was watching something earlier that was saying in emergencies aircraft can drop thousands of feet in a matter of minutes... how does it do this without doing a nose dive???? even by sowing the plane right down your at risk of stalling surely!

Answers 3 Answers

Jump to latest
Pro Member First Officer
antone First Officer

That's a pretty vague question - I mean, even a stall would accomplish the goal of losing a lot of altitude quickly, and may be recoverable in a powered aircraft with sufficient altitude.

Of course, the general assumption is that we want to land intact. If it's imperative to lose altitude at a drastic rate, cut the engines to idle. Use spoilers. Or do what the captain of the Gimli Glider did: a side slip, or forward slip.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gimli_Glider

Basically, apply opposing rudder and aileron. That banks the plane, destroying lift, but without changing heading.

Finally, even in normal operation an airliner can lose thousands of feet in several minutes. Check your VSI next time you simfly an airliner.

Pro Member Chief Captain
Drew B (belgeode) Chief Captain

He's right, there are many ways an aircraft can lose altitude rapidly ranging from pilot controlled (cutting throttle, spoliers, etc), to uncontrolled (wind shear, engine loss, etc)...

Want a good exercise... practice approaches where you are too high, and have to get to ATC requested approach altitude in less than 2 minutes.

You FIND ways to get down quickly, and safely.

Pro Member First Officer
Luke (warlord40) First Officer

I have mastered stall landings, even though its not in the 'pilot manuals' so to speak, if I'm far to high for the runway, I'll back the throttle right off, hit the spoilers, set flaps to max(as you slow of course), and then wait for the stall, once in the stall, set engines to a 1/4 (most aircraft), and use spoilers to adjust my glide fall. when around 1000-2000ft I'll retract the spoilers and use nothing but the throttle to glide myself in, after a few attempts anyone can do it, but then again...this wouldnt be my best approach...just for emergencies, or when you cant be bothered doing a fly around 😛

Still does not answer your question? Ask a new question!

If the question and answers provided above do not answer your specific question - why not ask a new question of your own? Our community and flight simulator experts will provided a dedicated and unique answer to your flight sim question. And, you don't even need to register to post your question!

Ask New Question...

Search

Search our questions and answers...

Be sure to search for your question from existing posted questions before asking a new question as your question may already exist from another user. If you're sure your question is unique and hasn't been asked before, consider asking a new question.

Related Questions

Flight Sim Questions that are closely related to this...