3 ms·
> or to only engage reverse thrust once the landing gear has weight on it. Having reverse thrust depend on a sensor that could fail seems like a poor choice. W
by jagger27 8y ago
> or to only engage reverse thrust once the landing gear has weight on it.
Having reverse thrust depend on a sensor that could fail seems like a poor choice. What if the landing gear don't drop? Is there a situation where you would still want reverse thrust without landing gear?
- usefulcat 8y agoHow would that work exactly? Surely the engines will be among the first things to be destroyed on 'landing' if the gear aren't down.
- rpeden 8y agoIt depends on where the engines are mounted. There was a Tu-154 that landed gear-up in Greece, then took off again, dropped the landing gear, and landed normally. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mal%C3%A9v_Flight_262 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mal%C3%A9v_Flight_262
- jagger27 8y agoThere are plenty of examples of non-catastrophic belly landings. I'm no pilot or aircraft engineer, so I don't know for sure if you'd want reverse thrust in such a situation. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belly_landing https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belly_landing
- rpeden 8y agoSometimes you'd like to have reverse thrust in-flight if you want to descend really, really quickly. Airliners don't have that feature anymore, but the C-17 and C-5 do. Actually, maybe some ex-Soviet airliners can still do it. DC-8s being used by cargo airlines could possibly still technically do it, but don't use the ability.
- mrguyorama 8y agoSpecifically, it wasn't a design goal of reverse thrust, and it's operation mid-flight was directly responsible for over 200 innocent lives lost[0]. Thrust reversers are very much a "nice to have" feature on turbofan aircraft, with every one qualified to both land and initiate a rejected takeoff at maximum weight without using them, though not without some maintenance after. [0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lauda_Air_Flight_004 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lauda_Air_Flight_004
- ravingraven 8y agoMost things in aircraft automation systems depend on sensors that could fail (those sensors could be redundant etc. but the same can be done with the sensors on landing gears). It is sane design. > What if the landing gear don't drop? I don't think that there is need for reverse thrust in such a scenario. > Is there a situation where you would still want reverse thrust without landing gear? Even if there is, there could be a manual override.
- Wintereise 8y ago> I don't think that there is need for reverse thrust in such a scenario. How do we slow down planes that still need to come down despite a stuck landing gear, then? Indeed, a manual override must exist.
- threeseed 8y agoJust have multiple sensors like they do already. It's also a sensor that you can simply put on each wheel to determine if there is weight applied.