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> safety agencies now limit Dreamliners powered by one of the Trent 1000 engine models under scrutiny to flying no more than 2.3 hours from the nearest airport

> safety agencies now limit Dreamliners powered by one of the Trent 1000 engine models under scrutiny to flying no more than 2.3 hours from the nearest airport — down from 5.5 hours previously. This seems like what these agencies should be doing anyway. Why allow a plane to be 5.5 hours from an emergency landing at all? That's just an insane amount of time if there's a major problem. I absolutely hate it when I'm flying over the middle of pacific. It has always seemed insane to me. I don't see how an engineer would ever recommend being even 2.3 hours away if it's possible to fly a safer route. There should be regulations requiring airlines to fly the safest reasonable route. If it adds even 25% to the flight, so be it. An abundance of caution seems logical.

ben_w 8y ago
Despite the ambiguous text, Dreamliners have two engines. I don’t know the rules, but imagine one engine failing means “go straight to nearest airport on remaining engine”. If you can’t trust that the remaining engine will work for at least as long as the scheduled flight, even a money-maximising-sociopath would recognise bigger problems.
techrich 8y ago
I agree with you 100% why would you be 5 hours from an emergency landing?! That's crazy! I would rather sit on a plane for a few more hours, should anything happen you can land some place in a reasonable amount of time.
vladimirralev 8y ago
You have to know these guys have earned their right to stay 5.5h out of range with a safety record. A longer flight also means more expensive. There is a calculation showing once you increase the price too much people start taking other less-safe transportation which results in more deaths and more GDP lost in terms of business. While this doesn't directly correlate here with pacific flights, I am sure they've done the same calculation for this case too.

ben_w 8y ago

Despite the ambiguous text, Dreamliners have two engines. I don’t know the rules, but imagine one engine failing means “go straight to nearest airport on remaining engine”. If you can’t trust that the remaining engine will work for at least as long as the scheduled flight, even a money-maximising-sociopath would recognise bigger problems.

techrich 8y ago

I agree with you 100% why would you be 5 hours from an emergency landing?! That's crazy! I would rather sit on a plane for a few more hours, should anything happen you can land some place in a reasonable amount of time.

vladimirralev 8y ago

You have to know these guys have earned their right to stay 5.5h out of range with a safety record. A longer flight also means more expensive. There is a calculation showing once you increase the price too much people start taking other less-safe transportation which results in more deaths and more GDP lost in terms of business. While this doesn't directly correlate here with pacific flights, I am sure they've done the same calculation for this case too.