WEBVTT - How Far Can a Plane Glide Without Engines?

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to brain Stuff, a production of iHeart Radio, Hey

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<v Speaker 1>brain Stuff, Lauren Vogel bomb here. It's January two thousand nine.

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<v Speaker 1>The US Airways Flight fifty nine is being boarded at

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<v Speaker 1>New York City's LaGuardia Airport. If all goes as planned,

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<v Speaker 1>the plane will touch down in Charlotte, North Carolina, later

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<v Speaker 1>that evening. All does not go as planned. It turned

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<v Speaker 1>out okay, but it was harrowing at PM Eastern Standard time.

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<v Speaker 1>The aircraft, now laden with a hundred and fifty passengers

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<v Speaker 1>and five crew members, takes off. Within minutes, disaster strikes.

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<v Speaker 1>The plane is unexpectedly bombarded by a flock of Canada geese,

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<v Speaker 1>causing both engines to shut down. Feet that's eight fifty

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<v Speaker 1>above one of the world's biggest cities. San's engines, the

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<v Speaker 1>airliner loses almost all of its thrust. This is a

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<v Speaker 1>serious problem because thrust is the physical force that moves

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<v Speaker 1>flying planes in the direction of motion. Unable to restart

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<v Speaker 1>the engines, Captain Chelsea Sellenberger nickname Sully, and First Officer

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<v Speaker 1>Jeffrey Skiles have to act fast. Time is running short

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<v Speaker 1>and they're losing altitude. If you were around and tuned

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<v Speaker 1>into the news that winter in two thousand nine. You

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<v Speaker 1>probably remember the amazing feet the pilots pulled off. After

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<v Speaker 1>considering detours to LaGuardia and an airport in New Jersey,

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<v Speaker 1>Sellenberger and Skiles made an emergency landing on the frigid

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<v Speaker 1>Hudson River. Although some passengers did have serious injuries, everyone

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<v Speaker 1>aboard that plane lived to tell the tale. New York

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<v Speaker 1>Governor David Patterson called it a miracle on the Hudson.

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<v Speaker 1>The landing was both dramatic and unusual, but this wasn't

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<v Speaker 1>the first time passing birds made trouble for a large aircraft.

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<v Speaker 1>When unfortunate goals or geese gets sucked into a plane's

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<v Speaker 1>engine or engines, they can do serious damage to machinery.

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<v Speaker 1>These so called bird strikes are the most common cause

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<v Speaker 1>of dual engine failure on two engine airplanes like the

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<v Speaker 1>one that Selinberger was flying. Since the nineteen forties, some

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<v Speaker 1>airports have used falconers to help scare unwanted birds off

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<v Speaker 1>of their premises. The mere sight of a trained hawker

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<v Speaker 1>falcon can repel other avian species from the area, but

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<v Speaker 1>other accidents can happen too. Maybe there's ice forming in

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<v Speaker 1>the carburetor, or perhaps the vehicle just doesn't have enough fuel. Three,

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<v Speaker 1>A perfect storm of technical issues and unit conversion mistakes

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<v Speaker 1>left an air Canada bowing seven sixty seven without fuel

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<v Speaker 1>some forty feet that's twelve thousand, five hundred meters over

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<v Speaker 1>central Canada. Before long, it lost power to both engines.

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<v Speaker 1>After descending at a rate of feet that's seven hundred

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<v Speaker 1>and sixty per minute, the pilots were able to glide

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<v Speaker 1>their bowing all the way to a safe, albeit bumpy

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<v Speaker 1>landing on a race car track. The pilots were hailed

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<v Speaker 1>here and the airplane was dubbed the Gimli Glider after

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<v Speaker 1>the town where it landed. Essentially, any plane can glide

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<v Speaker 1>if the need arises, and in situations where all the

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<v Speaker 1>engines have failed, the pilots have to expect the plane

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<v Speaker 1>to do some gliding without the thrust those engines are

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<v Speaker 1>built to provide. The plane can't help but lose altitude.

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<v Speaker 1>But how far can a plane glide when it's not

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<v Speaker 1>designed to be a glider. Aircrafts whose engines conk out

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<v Speaker 1>at higher elevations can glide for longer periods of time.

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<v Speaker 1>This is one of the reasons why Selinberger and Skiles

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<v Speaker 1>Hudson River landing was so impressive they had to glide

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<v Speaker 1>their way to safety in a matter of minutes from

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<v Speaker 1>a pretty low altitude. Everything happened very fast on US

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<v Speaker 1>Airways flight. The plane hit the birds within two minutes

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<v Speaker 1>of taking off, and just three minutes later the plane

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<v Speaker 1>was in the Hudson River. Obviously, planes come in all

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<v Speaker 1>shapes and sizes, so you're flying one, it's important to

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<v Speaker 1>know your vehicle's best glide speed. In a nutshell, this

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<v Speaker 1>is the speed that will let your airplane travel the

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<v Speaker 1>farthest distance while sacrificing the least amount of altitude. A

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<v Speaker 1>related concept is the minimum sinc speed, or the pace

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<v Speaker 1>of travel that will maximize how much time you can

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<v Speaker 1>spend gliding. Depending on your situation, you may choose to

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<v Speaker 1>prioritize time over distance or vice versa. Writing for USA Today,

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<v Speaker 1>in veteran pilot John Cox stated that a jetliner could

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<v Speaker 1>probably be expected to glide for around a hundred miles

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<v Speaker 1>that's a hundred and sixty KOs if all its engines

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<v Speaker 1>failed thirty thousand feet that's about nine thousand meters above

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<v Speaker 1>ground level. That's around the distance between Los Angeles and

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<v Speaker 1>Palm Springs or New York City in Atlantic City, though

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<v Speaker 1>he noted quote having all engines quit in a modern

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<v Speaker 1>airplane is extremely rare, which is reassuring. Today's episode is

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<v Speaker 1>based on the article how far can a plain glide

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<v Speaker 1>if its engines fail? On how stuff works dot Com

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<v Speaker 1>written by Mark Mancini. Brain Stuff is production of I

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<v Speaker 1>Heart Radio in partnership with how stuff works dot Com

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<v Speaker 1>and is produced by Tyler Klang. Four more podcasts my

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<v Speaker 1>heart Radio, visit the I heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,

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