Originally Posted by
PLovett
There is a recognised cloud break procedure for the PC-12 with engine failed. It is quite spectacular to watch as it involves a high energy descent giving the aircraft enough inertia to manoeuvre once visual.
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...Even the early model PC-12s' had a 40nm ring marked on their GPS which showed all airfields and the aircraft could be configured for a glide to arrive at a certain altitude above that field (forget what it was but think 2,000') where a cloud break procedure could be performed.
That sounds quite reasonable to me! If I would fly SETs on a regular basis I would certainly practice stuff like that. What saddens me though is that procedures like the one described are not integrated into the avionics yet. It would really be "a small matter of programming" (as early IT staff used to call difficult but manageable tasks) to compute the best gliding route towards a suitable landing site and steer the pilot towards it. Mind you, the Space Shuttle first flew in 1981 using technology developed throughout the decade before that date. This makes it 50 year old technology. Yet it already had a flight director which guided the pilots all the way down from orbit through the hypersonic regime to their assigned landing spot within a few metres. And all with an "aeroplane" that rather flew like a stone and not a glider. So why can't modern avionics manufacturers not just implement an "emergeny glide me home" mode into their flight director?