Like a 3 parachute configuration which shoots out the rear of the plane, and eliminates the aircraft sriking the ground at full speed.
2006-10-24 05:42:59 · 20 answers · asked by chickenleaf 1 in Cars & Transportation ➔ Aircraft
the only time you'd need them is if the wings broke off. and considering what ever happened took of the wings, it probably tore off the tail too. where were the parachute again? oh yeah, in the back of the plane. and a parachute landing isn't soft, the plane would essentually nose dive into the ground. plus think about how big the parachute is for a normal 200 lb person. how big do they have to be for an airplane?
2006-10-24 05:46:42 · answer #1 · answered by Nara 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Some light planes are fitted with a BRS,Ballistic Recovery System,that is, in basic terms a parachute for the entire aircraft.The system you refer to is part of military aircrafts braking system.I cant exactly see Virgin or British Airways fitting such a system to thier Airbus or Boing passenger aircraft.
Going back to the BRS for a moment.Its generally a single parachute system that is fired out of a point just to the rear of the passenger cabin.There is a weight penalty .And it is really only to be deployed in a dire emergancy.I have seen videos of it in use and it is terribly impressive,But its use is on 2 or 4 passenger aircraft.I simply cannot imagine how a system like this could be installed on a 2-400 passenger aircraft.The airlines would baulk at the cost and weight implications for a start.
I hope this helps a bit?
2006-10-24 12:58:57 · answer #2 · answered by greyfoxx 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Cirrus aircraft have a Ballistic Recovery System (BRS). BRS has also been successfully installed on other General Aviation (GA) aircraft. Unfortunately, BRS is not a viable concept on commercial or large GA aircraft due to the cruise speed and weight. Even if a commercial grade aircraft were able to deploy a parachute at cruise speed/altitude without the parachute being destroyed, the airframe would probably not withstand the shock. Good idea though.
2006-10-24 13:04:51 · answer #3 · answered by colglennlarson 3 · 2⤊ 0⤋
A commercial plane's generally not going to be in a situation where a parachute is going to be any use to bring it back to earth-how many aircraft have all their engines stop working at 36000 feet? also,fitting a parachute system to a commercial plane would be expensive to develop and install.(costs passed on to passengers) Pilots are trained in emergencies to land a plane with one or two engines out (assume it's not a 737 for the latter).So long as the aircraft is intact,a flight crew should be able to get it down safely.
2006-10-26 20:25:38 · answer #4 · answered by Devmeister 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Some military test aircraft are fitted with parachutes. These are used in flight testing and can help recover an aircraft from a flat spin situation, a flight condition which would otherwise cause the loss of the aircraft.
2006-10-28 09:22:48 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
It's just plain technically impossible. Besides most commercial aircraft accidents, happen either during the takeoff, or the landing phase of flight. The aircraft is generally going lower and slower, for what would be acheived by the use of a parachute.
For general aviation there is one aircraft equipt with a chute, but it's only use would be in the event a wing came off in flight, it would be much more cost effective to just supply each passenger with their own chute.
2006-10-24 13:42:21 · answer #6 · answered by battle-ax 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Smaller aircraft do have such systems.
The trouble with doing the same with larger airframes is that you can't simply "...shoot out of the rear...". The airframe is designed to distribute the weight horizontally, on the landing gear, so the chute has to be designed to support from the center of gravity, typically just ahead of the center of the wing. Current large airframes have no substantial structure in this area, and to change that would raise the weight of the aircraft excessively.
2006-10-24 12:52:04 · answer #7 · answered by lowflyer1 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Because the chutes would have to be HUGE and weigh a ton, take up space where fare paying pasengers could sit and probably would not withstand a deployment at 350mph.
Also it would mean shedding the wings and engines, all over possibly a built up area. Better to have all the aircraft come down in the same place, plus would you be happy with wings fitted with explosive bolts? Specially when flying in an area where lightning strikes are occuring.
2006-10-24 12:48:08 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
The aircraft industry did look into this years ago. As well as several upper parachutes they also looked into infltables to assist in a softer landing, however no design was ever made as steering the craft as it decended was impossible so all designs through-out the industry were scrapped.
2006-10-26 09:34:53 · answer #9 · answered by Scott R 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Economics.
The cost of design and certification would be enormous.
The cost of retrofitting the entire commercial airline fleet (20,000 commercial jets) would be enormous.
The cost of maintenance would be enormous. Currently, we have emergency escape slides which need to be "blown" every so often, repacked and recertified.
The cost of the fuel penalty for carrying a lot of extra weight would be big.
All these costs would be passed on to the consumer.
The safety record of commercial airliners does not justify such a need.
Of all the airline crashes, they would only be able to be used in a small percentage. It can't be justified.
Airlines and commercial airline manufacturers have strong lobbies in government and regulators would never be able to pass such a regulation.
2006-10-27 10:56:19 · answer #10 · answered by Munster 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋