Originally Posted by
keni010
I ask myself why he didn't consider flying at a height which would give him the ability to glide to be over land from any point during that flight. This raises several questions of course ... was he IFR rated? i.e. could he fly in an airway? ... Icing conditions at the time and the anti-icing capabilities of the aircraft.
Assuming IFR rated and icing not being an issue ... he'd have been better crossing the channel at around 20,000 feet which would have given him 'friendly' height in the event of an engine failure and allowing him to glide to be over land. I assume this plane can glide for at least 2 miles for each 1,000 feet of height. I haven't accurately measured it but the shortest channel crossing on that route was about 60 miles and from Omonville-la Petite to Portland island in Hampshire, this route not taking them very far from a direct route to Cardiff.
Assuming the worst everywhere here... glide distance with full tanks and two on board, for each 1000 feet of height being just 2 miles (probably a little more) ... a minimum height of 15,000 feet, plus at least 1,000 feet of 'fat' at the point of arrival over land at Portland was required ... as said, 20,000 being ample.
To be at 5,000 feet and then request to fly at just over 2,000 feet for that Channel crossing, presumably in order to be able to fly VFR, is in my opinion irresponsible in a single engine aircraft flying in winter and at night.
As said I am just a private pilot and there are far more experienced pilots who will have a far better grasp of the situation than myself ... it's just my take on it.
Edit: I forgot to add that the reported position of where this aircraft was lost indicates that the route flown was directly from Nantes to Cardiff .... thus avoiding the safer option of staying close to land and when considering that the aircraft was single engined.
A Piper Malibu 310 glides at a bit better than 10:1, i.e., if you’re up at 25,000′ (5 miles) you can hopefully glide more than 47.25sm / 41.25nm miles horizontally. If the glide was commenced at 5,000' he would have only had 9.45sm / 8.25nm until SPLASHDOWN !!! Now with the emphasis on him requesting a descent to 2,300' his glide from there would be less than 4.35sm / 3.8nm if the donkey quit or 2mins 30secs to SPLASHDOWN !!!