Jesus's middle name is Hume! Caution: Some NSFW images within!

[dave_the_nerd]

17yo local flying solo...

...had a little engine trouble.

Her motor stopped in midair and she didn't die? Damn. Good on her.

 

[destrekor]

Her motor stopped in midair and she didn't die? Damn. Good on her.

Yeah gotta say, that's quite impressive. Regardless of what type of trouble, be it stopping in midair or just screwing up and causing loss of altitude... a 17yo remaining relatively calm and maintaining/regaining control and landing in such a way that only the prop and front wheel are damaged? Good on her indeed!

 

[SKORPI0]

17yo local flying solo...

...had a little engine trouble.

With video interview and pics.... nice lunding of that plane...
http://www.11alive.com/news/local/teen-makes-crash-landing-on-golf-course/261879985

 

[Sonikku]

She got her own PLANE for a graduation present?! God damn. I got a $50 gift card for Best Buy...

 

[destrekor]

With video interview and pics.... nice lunding of that plane...
http://www.11alive.com/news/local/teen-makes-crash-landing-on-golf-course/261879985

You can fly solo, cross country, without a license?

 

[destrekor]

She got her own PLANE for a graduation present?! God damn. I got a $50 gift card for Best Buy...

I couldn't tell if she meant she got the plane for her present, or if she got the flying lessons as a present. I suspected the latter when I first heard it.

 

[CZroe]

I couldn't tell if she meant she got the plane for her present, or if she got the flying lessons as a present. I suspected the latter when I first heard it.

Well, PTC is a rich pilot community. Started as mostly Delta pilots and their families many decades ago but money attracts money.

 

[Fritzo]

 

[Mutilator]

You can fly solo, cross country, without a license?

It's part of required training for a private pilot certificate. Cross-country = 50 miles from point to point, not literally across the country.
Long cross country is 150nm with 1 leg being 50nm+ and full stop landings at 3 different places. Basically making sure you can take off, navigate, and land safely. By the time you're at this point you pretty much know what you're doing because your instructor wouldn't sign off to let you do it if there was any doubt you'd be able to.
This is a prime example of good training. Planes don't fall out of the sky because their engine quits - you simply fly them all the way to the ground, every time.

 

[CZroe]

It's part of required training for a private pilot certificate. Cross-country = 50 miles from point to point, not literally across the country.

Yep. We call the other kind of cross-country "trans-continental."

 

[Stopsignhank]

17yo local flying solo...

...had a little engine trouble.

Impressive. Harrison Ford tried that at a golf course near me and he was in the hospital for a month.

 

[Thebobo]

Her motor stopped in midair and she didn't die? Damn. Good on her.

Pfft glider/sailplane flyers do that everyday. Remember the miracle on the Hudson, Capt. Chesley B. "Sully" Sullenberger was a glider pilot. As was many other airline dead-stick airline landings like the "Gimli Gliders pilots." and thje TACA Flight 110 which landed on a grass levee near Louisiana. Not sure why they dont instruct/practice dead stick landings more often. Or better yet learn to fly on a glider first, its cheaper.

Landed on Levee

 

[Stopsignhank]

Pfft glider/sailplane flyers do that everyday. Remember the miracle on the Hudson, Capt. Chesley B. "Sully" Sullenberger was a glider pilot. As was many other airline dead-stick airline landings like the "Gimli Gliders pilots." and thje TACA Flight 110 which landed on a grass levee near Louisiana. Not sure why they dont instruct/practice dead stick landings more often. Or better yet learn to fly on a glider first, its cheaper.

According to the video she does not even have her pilots license yet. How many thousands of hours and flight simulator training did those commercial pilots have?

She did pretty darn good for a beginner.

 

[lxskllr]

According to the video she does not even have her pilots license yet. How many thousands of hours and flight simulator training did those commercial pilots have?

She did pretty darn good for a beginner.

and she takes a good "lol I dunno" picture :^D

 

[Charmonium]

and she takes a good "lol I dunno" picture :^D

The pigeon toed stance really sells it.

 

[shortylickens]

 

[balloonshark]

A gentleman I went flying with could tell you exactly how far his plane would glide based on his current altitude if the engine would shut off. I would assume any pilot would be trained to know this info. Of course that doesn't mean much if you can't reach a safe and clear spot to sit her down.

 

[KMFJD]

 

[Fritzo]

Pfft glider/sailplane flyers do that everyday. Remember the miracle on the Hudson, Capt. Chesley B. "Sully" Sullenberger was a glider pilot. As was many other airline dead-stick airline landings like the "Gimli Gliders pilots." and thje TACA Flight 110 which landed on a grass levee near Louisiana. Not sure why they dont instruct/practice dead stick landings more often. Or better yet learn to fly on a glider first, its cheaper.

Landed on Levee

My boss is a flight instructor, and he was commenting that they DO drill dead-stick landings into students heads. There are so many backup systems and redundant features in an aviation-grade engine that a total failure is incredibly rare. He also mentioned that a plane like that would have a glide ratio of somewhere around 8:1 to 10:1, so at 1000 ft she had at least a couple of miles of controlled flight. He also noted that top-wing aircraft are more "buoyant" in the air, making landing lighter, so that played in her favor. Bottom winged aircraft offer higher performance but tend to hit the ground harder.

A gentleman I went flying with could tell you exactly how far his plane would glide based on his current altitude if the engine would shut off. I would assume any pilot would be trained to know this info. Of course that doesn't mean much if you can't reach a safe and clear spot to sit her down.

Yeah, all planes have a rated glide ratio. When you qualify for a plane, you are taught how far you have at a particular altitude to find a safe landing area. Larger aircraft have crazy-high glide ratios. For instance, a 747 is around 17:1, meaning at 30000 ft it would have controlled flight for a REALLY long time, giving a lot of landing options.

 

[NikolaeVarius]

My boss is a flight instructor, and he was commenting that they DO drill dead-stick landings into students heads. There are so many backup systems and redundant features in an aviation-grade engine that a total failure is incredibly rare. He also mentioned that a plane like that would have a glide ratio of somewhere around 8:1 to 10:1, so at 1000 ft she had at least a couple of miles of controlled flight. He also noted that top-wing aircraft are more "buoyant" in the air, making landing lighter, so that played in her favor. Bottom winged aircraft offer higher performance but tend to hit the ground harder.

Yeah, all planes have a rated glide ratio. When you qualify for a plane, you are taught how far you have at a particular altitude to find a safe landing area. Larger aircraft have crazy-high glide ratios. For instance, a 747 is around 17:1, meaning at 30000 ft it would have controlled flight for a REALLY long time, giving a lot of landing options.

A dead stick landing with a small aircraft isn't too different from a normal landing. The main difference is that you only have one shot.

The reliability of modern engines is the reason we don't make 4 engine passenger wide body aircraft anymore. The extra work needed to put in those extra 2 engines and extra fuel costs didn't justify the 0.00000001% increase in reliability.

And as for glide ratio, yeah, anyone who flies a plane will know the exact glide ratio of the plane they're flying. Especially with a small aircraft, its wouldn't be all that difficult to land it. It's extremely stable, very light, and can glide for a very long period of time

Dead stick landing of a 767
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gimli_Glider

 

[destrekor]

A dead stick landing with a small aircraft isn't too different from a normal landing. The main difference is that you only have one shot.

The reliability of modern engines is the reason we don't make 4 engine passenger wide body aircraft anymore. The extra work needed to put in those extra 2 engines and extra fuel costs didn't justify the 0.00000001% increase in reliability.

And as for glide ratio, yeah, anyone who flies a plane will know the exact glide ratio of the plane they're flying. Especially with a small aircraft, its wouldn't be all that difficult to land it. It's extremely stable, very light, and can glide for a very long period of time

Dead stick landing of a 767
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gimli_Glider

I'd wager that many pilots don't necessarily just know, i.e. have memorized, the glide ratio - but for a pilot it should be relatively quick work to calculate once they have the requisite numbers. Just like the Gimli Glider situation - it was calculated on flight to figure out their best shot.
And then the slip maneuver wasn't a 100% "I know what rate of descent this will produce," but with gliding there is a definite feel factor involved.

I gotta say, it would be one helluva sight to see a commercial jumbo jet perform a side slip like the Gimli Glider pilot performed.

Also, four engine planes most certainly still exist for a very good reason: long-haul flights. They were more common early on due to reliability concerns, and of course modern engines are far more reliable. That said, there are many advantages to a four engine passenger plane: if a very large jumbo, max takeoff weight might need at least 3. And a four engine flight ceiling can either be absolutely required or at least far far more ideal on long-haul flights, thanks to greater fuel efficiency and better flights as they are well above the weather. Dropping to two engines could risk a fuel shortage on very long and heavy flights.

I'm sure you were aware of that, and your point is definitely valid as few trans-continental flights require anything but a two-engine craft.

 

[Thebobo]

......

Dead stick landing of a 767
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gimli_Glider

Post a few above this mentions the Gimli gilder plus a couple more glider pilots dead stick lading airliners. :sneaky:

http://forums.anandtech.com/showpost.php?p=38333085&postcount=52313

Obligatory thread picture - Gimli glider at old airport converted to racetrack/drag-strip.

 

[Sonikku]

 

[KMFJD]

 

[shortylickens]