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I met an Airbus test pilot once. Among other stories he told me that the A380 is one of best balanced planes out there, and apparently a joy to fly. He said ev

I met an Airbus test pilot once. Among other stories he told me that the A380 is one of best balanced planes out there, and apparently a joy to fly. He said even without engines he could easily land it like a glider. Now, I can't really verify what he said, but he seemed sincere. Having travelled in the A380 as passenger, I will sure miss it.

Erlich_Bachman 6y ago
> without engines he could easily land it like a glider. Most airplanes are designed to glide down and be able to land in the event of loss of all power from all existing engines, subject to the available altitude above ground (the potential height energy from the fall is used as the source of kinetic energy for keeping airspeed+lift) and distance to a suitable for landing piece of land.
- linuxhansl 6y ago
  True. He just specifically called out the A380 for being exquisitely balanced. There were many more interesting stories including some (controlled) crashes and an uncontrolled crash when they tried the planes under extreme conditions. He actually felt sorry for "normal" pilots, since they do not really get to try out the planes :) Anyway...
redis_mlc 6y ago
> one of best balanced planes out there Airliner design is regulated for stability for passenger flight on IFR approaches. So they're all pretty smooth. (The reason for the 737 MAX MCAS system was to meet those requirements, although they failed in that case.) All planes can glide if the wings are attached, and any essential electricity is available for control (if necessary.) A corollary of "all planes glide" is that planes cannot really fall or dive straight (vertically) down from an appreciable height with the wings attached. A good story to tell passengers afraid of flying.
- ashtonkem 6y ago
  All planes can glide, but not to the same degree. The glide ratio, or the ratio between distance travelled per distance dropped, varies wildly between planes. A purpose built glider has a glide ratio of about 60:1, so it could travel 60mi while only losing 1mi of altitude, while a Cessna 172 has a glide ratio of 9. Large passenger aircraft have glide ratios inbetween, with a 737 having a ratio of 17. On the other extreme end you have military fighter planes, which tend to more closely resemble well propelled un-aerodynamic objects once their engines give out. The worst I could find was the F104 Starfighter, which has a glide ratio of 3-5 depending on its exact configuration. Dead stick landings of these aircraft tend to be rare, as the availability of ejection seats (especially before zero-zero seats became a thing) encourages a not-my-problem-any-more attitude among pilots who discover themselves absent a working engine.
  - jacquesm 6y ago
    > On the other extreme end you have military fighter planes, which tend to more closely resemble well propelled un-aerodynamic objects once their engines give out. Which made this all the more impressive: https://theaviationist.com/2014/09/15/f-15-lands-with-one-wing/ https://theaviationist.com/2014/09/15/f-15-lands-with-one-wi...
    - ashtonkem 6y ago
      Really highlights how important high thrust:weight ratios are for military aircraft. Missing a wing? Apply afterburner
  - s1artibartfast 6y ago
    It is worth pointing out that many military aircraft are made to be unstable by design. Unpowered or underpowered Commercial aircraft want to glide, with aerodynamic resisting change of course for safety and ease of use. On the other hand, aerodynamics of military combat aircraft operate in unstable equilibrium to encourage greater maneuverability.
    - 6y ago
mrpippy 6y ago
The A380(-800) is known to be “over-winged” (larger and generates more lift than would be optimal, at the cost of drag and weight). Apparently Airbus was planning to make a larger variant as well, and the wing was designed to accommodate that. But the -800 was years delayed and struggled to find customers, the larger variant was never made.
easytiger 6y ago
Flown many times in the front of an A380. I usually put headphones on for landing. First ever flight on one I only noticed we had wheels down after the fact, so flawless was the landing. Also the quietest plane I've ever been on. Sad place for civilisation to lose this machine.
pdm55 6y ago
The captain of Qantas Flight 32, Richard de Crespigny, credits his first flying instructor with schooling him in "not panicking when engines are lost and you have to glide your plane". He writes about it in his account of the explosion of QF32's Rolls Royce engine which degraded 21 of the Airbus’s 22 flight systems. With the aircraft in glide-mode he built up enough functions to be able to land the aircraft. With no reverse thrusters, no wing slats and badly degraded brakes, four tyres blew out when they landed. https://www.amazon.com/QF32-Richard-Crespigny-2012-05-04/dp/B01FKRY1KW/ https://www.amazon.com/QF32-Richard-Crespigny-2012-05-04/dp/...
- benhurmarcel 6y ago
  It’s a pretty common opinion in the industry that airline pilots benefit a lot from having some glider flight hours.
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]

Erlich_Bachman 6y ago

> without engines he could easily land it like a glider. Most airplanes are designed to glide down and be able to land in the event of loss of all power from all existing engines, subject to the available altitude above ground (the potential height energy from the fall is used as the source of kinetic energy for keeping airspeed+lift) and distance to a suitable for landing piece of land.

linuxhansl 6y ago
True. He just specifically called out the A380 for being exquisitely balanced. There were many more interesting stories including some (controlled) crashes and an uncontrolled crash when they tried the planes under extreme conditions. He actually felt sorry for "normal" pilots, since they do not really get to try out the planes :) Anyway...

redis_mlc 6y ago

> one of best balanced planes out there Airliner design is regulated for stability for passenger flight on IFR approaches. So they're all pretty smooth. (The reason for the 737 MAX MCAS system was to meet those requirements, although they failed in that case.) All planes can glide if the wings are attached, and any essential electricity is available for control (if necessary.) A corollary of "all planes glide" is that planes cannot really fall or dive straight (vertically) down from an appreciable height with the wings attached. A good story to tell passengers afraid of flying.

ashtonkem 6y ago
All planes can glide, but not to the same degree. The glide ratio, or the ratio between distance travelled per distance dropped, varies wildly between planes. A purpose built glider has a glide ratio of about 60:1, so it could travel 60mi while only losing 1mi of altitude, while a Cessna 172 has a glide ratio of 9. Large passenger aircraft have glide ratios inbetween, with a 737 having a ratio of 17. On the other extreme end you have military fighter planes, which tend to more closely resemble well propelled un-aerodynamic objects once their engines give out. The worst I could find was the F104 Starfighter, which has a glide ratio of 3-5 depending on its exact configuration. Dead stick landings of these aircraft tend to be rare, as the availability of ejection seats (especially before zero-zero seats became a thing) encourages a not-my-problem-any-more attitude among pilots who discover themselves absent a working engine.
- jacquesm 6y ago
  > On the other extreme end you have military fighter planes, which tend to more closely resemble well propelled un-aerodynamic objects once their engines give out. Which made this all the more impressive: https://theaviationist.com/2014/09/15/f-15-lands-with-one-wing/ https://theaviationist.com/2014/09/15/f-15-lands-with-one-wi...
  - ashtonkem 6y ago
    Really highlights how important high thrust:weight ratios are for military aircraft. Missing a wing? Apply afterburner
- s1artibartfast 6y ago
  It is worth pointing out that many military aircraft are made to be unstable by design. Unpowered or underpowered Commercial aircraft want to glide, with aerodynamic resisting change of course for safety and ease of use. On the other hand, aerodynamics of military combat aircraft operate in unstable equilibrium to encourage greater maneuverability.
  - 6y ago

mrpippy 6y ago

The A380(-800) is known to be “over-winged” (larger and generates more lift than would be optimal, at the cost of drag and weight). Apparently Airbus was planning to make a larger variant as well, and the wing was designed to accommodate that. But the -800 was years delayed and struggled to find customers, the larger variant was never made.

easytiger 6y ago

Flown many times in the front of an A380. I usually put headphones on for landing. First ever flight on one I only noticed we had wheels down after the fact, so flawless was the landing. Also the quietest plane I've ever been on. Sad place for civilisation to lose this machine.

pdm55 6y ago

The captain of Qantas Flight 32, Richard de Crespigny, credits his first flying instructor with schooling him in "not panicking when engines are lost and you have to glide your plane". He writes about it in his account of the explosion of QF32's Rolls Royce engine which degraded 21 of the Airbus’s 22 flight systems. With the aircraft in glide-mode he built up enough functions to be able to land the aircraft. With no reverse thrusters, no wing slats and badly degraded brakes, four tyres blew out when they landed. https://www.amazon.com/QF32-Richard-Crespigny-2012-05-04/dp/B01FKRY1KW/ https://www.amazon.com/QF32-Richard-Crespigny-2012-05-04/dp/...

benhurmarcel 6y ago
It’s a pretty common opinion in the industry that airline pilots benefit a lot from having some glider flight hours.

deleted 6y ago

[deleted]