What happens if all Engines Fail?

Question

what will happen if all engines fail on a commercial airplane??? ex. a boeing 777, or a airbus 340? or any other kind of airliner????

Answer 1

The answer by jmdavis, that aircraft can stay aloft for hours after all engines fail, is, in brief, off-the-wall.
Perhaps he smoked the wrong stuff when he answered.
Or had just finished reading about a high-performance sailplane.
The truth is, all airplanes have the ability to glide WHILE DESCENDING, and the distance they can glide depends on their altitude at flameout, aircraft type, load, load distribution, winds, terrain, wing-loading. If flameout occurs at FL40, over the US over low terrain, last rites are not yet called for. Trimming for a descent @ 325 kt, the pilot has perhaps 15 minutes or more to find an airstrip, or some soft ground. Of course, if it's not at a jetport that he lands, the craft will likely break apart. That does not mean there will be no survivors. If there's no resultant fire, there's a good chance of finding survivors. Key word here: "IF"

Answer 2

I'm astonished at so many replies saying that if the engines stop, the plane crashes. This is completely wrong. You've heard about gliders or sailplanes, right? They're just airplanes with no engines at all, and they fly just fine; they just need a tow to get into the air in the first place. When the engines fail, a powered plane turns into a glider.

All pilots are trained to cope with emergencies, such as engine failure. The basic steps are ABCD:

A: Aviate. Don't panic, continue to fly the airplane. Trim for best glide speed and stay in control.

B: Best Place: look around and pick the best place to land, if it comes to that. Good pilots are continually scanning, and thinking "If my engines fail, where will I put down?"

C: Checklist: If there's time, run through the standard in-flight engine restart checklist, and see if the engines will restart.

D: Declare: Call the air-traffic controllers on the radio and tell them what's happening. Even if the plane has to set down somewhere inconvenient, they can start help on the way immediately.

Then it's a matter of keeping the passengers calm, flying down to the best spot picked out, and doing an emergency landing. I practiced dozens of these during my flight training, though without actually landing on the road, or field, or whatever.

The plane *is* eventually going to come down, but it's very likely it will be safe. In the source below is a link to the story of the "Gimli Glider", an Air Canada 767 that ran out of gas because of a litre/gallon mixup in refueling. The pilots did everything right, the air traffic controllers found them another airport within gliding range, and they landed more or less safely.

Now if the pilots get distracted by the engines and forget A, forget to pay attention, they can crash, but modern training is pretty good and such incidents are rare.

Answer 3

Simple- The flight crew executes the all engines out emergency procedure for that aircraft, just as they are trained to do!

Then they glide until they can get the engines restarted or until they meet land.

Here are some past incidents where Boeings & Airbuses have lost all engine power and still landed safely:

Air Transat, Flight 236, made the world's longest recorded glide with a jet airliner after suffering fuel exhaustion over the Atlantic Ocean. The plane flew powerless for half an hour and covered 65 nautical miles (120 km) to an emergency landing in the Azores- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_Transat_Flight_236

Air Canada Flight 143, ran out of fuel at 40,000 feet (12 000 m), about halfway through its flight from Ottawa to Edmonton. The crew was able to glide the aircraft safely to a forced landing at Gimli Industrial Park Airport, a former airbase at Gimli, Manitoba-
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gimli_Glider

It happened to this United 767 TWICE!:
"While climbing through 3000 feet agl, during the initial climb phase of the flight, both engines flamed out. The crew was able to restart both engines and return to the airport of departure for an uneventful landing. On August 19, 1983 this same aircraft (N609UA) suffered a double engine flameout."
http://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19860331-0&lang=en
http://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19830819-1&lang=en

as well as....
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Airways_Flight_9
http://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19891215-1

Here is a list of aircraft accident & incidents where there was an all engines powerloss - http://aviation-safety.net/database/dblist.php?Event=ACEL

Answer 4

mad dog malone is obviously not a real pilot. He can name the four forces acting on a plane, but does not understand how they interact. You should ignore his advice.

Those responses that describe gliding to a landing are correct.
I think that virtually all planes have a glide ratio of at least 7 to 1. This means they can glide 7 miles for every mile (5000 feet) of altitude. Sleeker planes (jets, high performance aircraft, gliders, etc.) have greater glide ratios and can cover more ground per mile of altitude.

The critical issues are whether the pilot maintains control of the aircraft, and whether he/she maneuvers the plane so that there is a runway (real or makeshift) at the end of the glide ... because the plane will NOT go around for a second attempt.

Answer 5

When all engines fail every air plane will return to earth. In most cases it is a crash landing. however there have been cases where the plane was landed safely. One such case was a new 767 the ran out of fuel over Manitoba, Canada. The flight crew remembered an old air base nearby and were able to glide the plane to a safe landing, with no injuries to those on board.

Answer 6

This can never happen and it has never happened. There is a possibility of one engine getting failed due to a bird hit or some mechanical malfunction and the other engine is enough to ground the plane to the nearest air field. In the event of all the engines fail, the plane can still glide and can attempt a belly landing depending upon where actually you are. Chances are in plains and ocean, you may survive, but in a hilly terrain, it is obituary !!!

Answer 7

That happened to my friend on an AA 737-300 in the 1990's. He made an emergency landing,but if that happens the electric system will likely fail ,but some aircraft have this small less than a foot long propeller that will power the aircraft.

Answer 8

If it is not too close to the ground, the plane can glide for quite a distance, and a Ram Air Turbine can be deployed to provide minimal electrical and control power as long as the plane is in forward flight. There should be enough time for an emergency landing a some airport.

Answer 9

Most planes have the ability to stay in the air for hours after their engines fail, the sheer momentum of the plane along with the physics generated by it will keep it in the air for a long time. So as long as your not over the Atlantic or Pacific Oceans you should be Gravy!

Answer 10

well, everyone think its going to crash but its exact. the plane is still capable to glide for a distance u can't imagine... i don't know how far exactly but i think more than 100 miles... there's a very good example of this when a commercial airliner (i forgot which airline) A330 lost all engine power while flying through the alantic from US east coast going to somewhere in europe... but the plane managed to land in a small island... EVERYONE survived!!! i saw that in discovery channel...

in my opinion, B777 and A340 would still be able to fly even when engines are down...