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Old 7th August 2008 | 08:30
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shortstripper
 
Joined: Sep 2003
Posts: 1,198
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From: South Norfolk, England
All aeroplanes will glide, obviously some better than others. However, engine failures are actually quite rare and when they do happen, they can usually be linked to some failure on the part of the pilot or aircraft's maintanence (usually fuel starvation or carb icing) How well the aircraft "glides" has less to do with it's ability to arrive back on terra-firma safely than it's stall speed, mass and landing distance. I believe a Boeing 747 actually has a pretty good glide angle ... but I'd not want to dead stick one if the engines failed! A typical microlight though, glides like a brick, but can be put down safely in a space not much bigger than a garden!

I've had one engine failure but just scraped into a small airfield. It was my fault as I was new to the type and ran it out of fuel even though it wasn't empty

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