Longest commercial airline glide

[Kev367th]

Air Transt flight 236 - Airbus A320 that developed a fuel leak, pilot glided it 98 miles!!!! to a landing in the Azores.

http://www.airdisaster.com/photos/ts236/photo.shtml

[MiloMorai]

How far did the Air Canada Gimli a/c glide? It also ran out of fuel.

[Debonair]

Just looked up a "Gimli Glider" web site & it had no exact numbers, but said that a glide speed of 220kts was picked & it gave a 2000 - 2500 fpm rate of decent, & something else about "12 miles" so if you like math you can probably estimate the winner...i dont see "98 miles" anywhere in the airdisaster.com page, just that they lost the last engine 10 minutes after being 100nm out.  

http://www.wadenelson.com/gimli.html

[Wolfala]

I remember reading a nugget somewhere that the 747 actually had the best g/r around - anyone got data?

[MiloMorai]

Debonair,

Was just curious about the distance the Gimli Glider flew and that it was another AC a/c. Thanks for the link.

[Kev367th]

Originally posted by Wolfala
I remember reading a nugget somewhere that the 747 actually had the best g/r around - anyone got data?

Not sure about that, but I remember reading an air incident report where a 747 pilot performed an aileron roll after losing an engine and screwing up the procedures. (poss Air China)

Correction to my origianl post - Not an A320, an A330.

[Debonair]

I went & looked around the next for airliner glide ratios & found 15:1 pretty conistently for B747, so at a cruise elevation it could make about a 140nm gliding aproach providing it was straight in & no headwind, etc.

[mora]

Originally posted by Kev367th
Not sure about that, but I remember reading an air incident report where a 747 pilot performed an aileron roll after losing an engine and screwing up the procedures. (poss Air China)

Correction to my origianl post - Not an A320, an A330.

http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0UBT/is_33_13/ai_55493380

The crew of a China Airlines 747SP on a 1985 flight over the Pacific to Los Angeles was luckier. At 41,000 feet the number four engine experienced a compressor stall. After it was shut down, the autopilot began compensating for the yaw created by the asymmetric thrust from the remaining three engines. However, the yaw pushed the aircraft into a roll. Over the next two minutes, the airplane plummeted 32,000 feet (about six miles), rolling some 60 degrees to the right with the noise pointed nearly straight down. The crew throttled the remaining three engines to idle power and pulled back on the yoke. Passing through 30,000 feet, at some 295 knots indicated airspeed (the 747SP has a design maneuvering airspeed, Va, of some 230 knots IAS), the captain was pulling 5 G's on the airplane, and the stresses literally were pulling pieces off. Fortunately, he was able to pull the airplane out of the dive at 9,500 feet. The much-relieved crew climbed back to 27,000 ft. and limped to a diversionary landing at San Francisco.    Post-incident inspection revealed loss of the entire left elevator, most of the right elevator and the outer 30-32 feet of the horizontal stabilizer. Reportedly, the auxiliary power unit (APU) mounted in the tail had been ripped off the airplane under the high G loading and today rests at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean.

[Debonair]

OK, i dont know how this relates, but it is like the previous post...actually NTSB tells the story better
http://ntsb.gov/ntsb/brief2.asp?ev_id=20021127X05535&ntsbno=DCA03IA005&akey=1

[nirvana]

This was on the military channel I believe.  Something about a leaking fuel line in the right wing I believe.  They went to transfer the fuel in the left tank into the right tank, unfortunately all of the transferred fuel was leaked as well.  If I remember correctly the fuel line was cracked because of vibrations in the wing.

[Angus]

15 to 1 ????
You sure about that?
A normal light aircraft glides easily, - at 8 to 1 or so.

[Thrawn]

24 August 2001; Air Transat A330-200;

near the Azores Islands, Portugal: The aircraft was cruising across the Atlantic at 39,000 feet (11,900 meters) on a flight from Toronto to Lisbon when the right engine lost power. The left engine quit about 13 minutes later. Both engines lost power as a result of fuel starvation. There had been a leak in the fuel system near the right engine, and an open crossfeed valve allowed fuel to be lost from both wing tanks. The leak had been noticed by the crew about an hour prior to the engines shutting down, and the aircraft was already diverting toward Lajes military airfield in the Azores. After the last engine lost power, the crew was able to glide for 20 minutes for about 115 miles (185 km) to Lajes airfield and avert a mid-ocean ditching.

http://www.airsafe.com/events/noengine.htm

[Staga]

Originally posted by Angus
15 to 1 ????
You sure about that?
A normal light aircraft glides easily, - at 8 to 1 or so.

Cessnas ~ 1 to 10 and bigger airliners 15-20 to 1 at best.  

Newsgroups: sci.aeronautics.airliners,rec.travel.air
From: drinkard@bcstec.ca.boeing.com (Terrell D. Drinkard)
Subject: Re: unpowered glide ratios
Date: 19 Sep 94 01:28:35

In article ,
Thomas Sloane wrote:
>
>For some Boeing planes, or others, what are typical,
>unpowered, sustainable glide ratios?

Just in general, one can assume a glide ratio in excess of 20 to 1.
The 737 is around 22 to 1, depending on the exact model and configuration.
This is assuming the engines are at idle, or at least windmilling.  It does
get worse if they are not turning at all.

Terry

--
Terry
drinkard@bcstec.ca.boeing.com

[Meatwad]

wow that link at top game me 4 popups

[Angus]

Always thought that the airliners would fall like bricks.
What's the wingloading compared to a little aircraft BTW?