If you were a pilot what are you supposed to do?

Question

You are on final approach with 150 souls on board in a 737-700 Southwest Airlines. You are lets say 3 nautical miles from a 8000 foot runway. 25 degree flaps and obviously your landing gear down. Engines 1 and 2 go out due to a surge and you are at 145 knots with a landing speed of 143. Would you raise your flaps or risk lowering it to 30 and give you some extra lift and hope for a higher altitude and lower speed short final.

Answer 1

you probably won't make it whether you raise or lower your flaps. i would look for a good landing field just before the runway. normally you should be around 900 ft at 3 miles on finals but if you were at 1500 ft you can make it to the runway without your engines.

Answer 2

The amount of SOB's (souls on board) at this point and time will not do you well. If were on the ground trying to answer this question I would have more information at my disposal. The rule is esp on an engine out. FLY THE PLANE. you have a crew of two on board. The PIC should be doing nothing but flying the plane, and maintaining Best Glide speed, the other crew member should be working the problem. Do not remove the flaps once initiated. I have played with this in a controlled environment. Adding flaps with the runway not made will insure that you will miss the runway. Yes. lowering them will provide some lift but you are also increasing drag. so that will slow you down even more. As far as lowering speed, if you are in a situation and you are able to make it to the runway with no engines, I would since you have no engines meaning no reverse thrusting, set the brakes to max, and make sure that all flaps and other types of drags are introduced, 8,000 feet of rwy should be more than enough.

Answer 3

I don't know how many people answering this question have ever flown a real 737 or something similar (not flight simulator)
But the big thing missing in the problem is what altitude are you at that 3 mile point? Are you on the glide slope? High on the approach? For those who haven't actually flown those airplanes in real life (not flight simulator), with approach flaps and gear down and NO power they slow down REAL fast. Talk to a 737 pilot about attempting a power off approach some time. That 25-30 kts above a stall (depending on gross weight) will go in a heartbeat.

Answer 4

Should you survive, the first thing you're going to do once you've gotten the pax of the ship is plan on checking your fuel load and fuel quality more carefully. Turbine engines flame out for two reasons; fuel starvation and idiot operator error.

3 miles out, IAS of 145, if you're on the GS at the time of the "surge" (which I've never heard of before,) you'll be about 800' AGL, with a best glide producing about 500'/min descent, and at 145, it will only take you a little over 1min 15 sec' to reach the hammerhead of the runway. Declare an emergency, get the APU on-line to insure that you'll have hydraulics after the wind through the engines slows, declare an emergency and ride it in.

I wasn't aware that any version of the 737 could seat 150, but the first thing the pilot should do in any crisis is, frankly, "fly the airplane."

Happy Landings

Answer 5

Frankly, the number of people aboard isn't a consideration - as the pilot, sitting in the pointy end of the airplane, you are the first to "arrive," and whatever you do with the airplane determines whether you, or anybody else, survives. I can't really answer the question with a really high degree of accuracy, as there is not enough info to ascertain the stall speed of the aircraft, and I don't recall best glide speed for it, either. In any case, you don't want to extend more flaps, as that will only increase drag. At 3 miles out on a normal airliner approach, it is unlikely that you will make it to the runway, no matter what your configuration with a double flame-out. Obviuosly, the pilot not flying would immediately begin the engine restart procedure, but we're assuming that they don't restart. Probably the best thing to do is to pick a spot to put it down that you can reach in a glide, hopefully with as few obstacles as possible. I would retract the landing gear (both to clean up the airplane, extending the glide, and to minimize damage upon touchdown in an unimproved environment - also, if the runway can be made, a gear-up landing, while exciting, probably won't result in any serious injuries). Also, depending on what best glide speed is for the aircraft's weight at that time (it changes significantly during a flight due to fuel burn) and best glide configuration, I would slowly reset the flaps to that setting (probably up, or no more than 10* for lowest drag and best lift). Just before touchdown, I would extend flaps to full, in order to increase drag and allow a landing at minimum possible speed (just above stall speed at touchdown). The most important thing is to land the aircraft in the best spot within glide range (not too far, since you're not very high at 3 miles out on final) under full control, and as slowly as possible (don't bleed off speed below best glide until just before touchdown).That's about all one could do in such a situation.

Answer 6

Leave the flaps alone for now, raising them will lose you more altitude than you will regain with the better glide. Lowering the flaps is the last thing you'd want to do, it will gain you very little altitude, and your glide angle will be much steeper than before, leaving you even more short of the runway.
At any rate, you are probably not going to make the runway, although you may make it over the airport fence. I'd pick the path that had the least obstructions between you and the airport boundary, aim for that, then stretch the glide at the last second with the rest of the flaps, landing under control at the slowest feasible airspeed. Then just pray.

Answer 7

I would slow the aircraft or pitch the nose to obtain glide speed, there is a published glide speed for the airplane in a clean configuration (flaps up, gear up) and there is a glide speed in a landing configuration (flaps down gear down) so id fly the glide speed in a landing configuration since you are on a 3 mile final, raise the flaps a bit 25 is too much drag. and just glide in... it can be done.. and its not about sacrificing height for airspeed... on these cases its flying glide speed, in which you will obtain a longest glide.. more time up in the air..

ohh and for the first person that answered ... you would like to squak 7700 (emergency code) 7500 is the hijack code ;)

Answer 8

1.) "Maintain flying airspeed" and leave everything alone...it's too late to change the aircraft's configuration to something that might gain you an extra 100 feet of glide distance. Trying to stretch the glide usually ends up with spinning it in.

2.) Identify a suitable landing area...("suitable" being a relative term.)

3.) Ask the PNF to call "Mayday", fuel and souls on board, and location.

4.) Notify the FA's and PAX of the emergency in the sternest terms possible. No time for the usual preamble..."Ladies and Gentlemen, this is Bob your Captain...up front here with Hillary, our First Officer. At Southwest we consider your safety and comfort to be of paramount importance. With this in mind, we'd like to inform you of a little situation that has cropped up...."(sound of impact.)

Answer 9

First of all, At 145 knots, You would never make it 3 miles, depending on altitude. the 737 was never meant to be a glider. I would try to land elsewhere.

Answer 10

I would change nothing as long as I was on, & could remain on the glide slop, & stay above stall speed. In your question, you overlooked a key factor, & that is wind direction, & speed.

Plus how would a surge in one or more engines occur on approach?
If you want to ask detailed questions about aviation, & aircraft try to aquire enough knowledge where you can ask a valid question.