The Gang of Five

Beyond the Mysterious Beyond => The Fridge => Topic started by: raga on April 21, 2009, 09:12:34 PM

Title: That was lucky!
Post by: raga on April 21, 2009, 09:12:34 PM

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/us/2009/0...gency.land.affl (http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/us/2009/04/21/vo.fl.emergency.land.affl)

Now thats what I call a ride!

Title: That was lucky!
Post by: Cancerian Tiger on April 21, 2009, 10:02:39 PM

Looks fun :D!

Title: That was lucky!
Post by: NeoGenesis005 on April 22, 2009, 12:08:38 AM

Dude... :D that Rough!

Title: That was lucky!
Post by: Littlefoot1616 on April 22, 2009, 06:14:03 AM

Whew...bet that was a frightening experience. Glad they got down safely. That could have easily gone horribly wrong.

Title: That was lucky!
Post by: Petrie. on April 22, 2009, 07:03:13 AM

He was lucky he wasn't any higher off the ground when the engine finally gave out...that would've made it even more challenging.  Good thing it was a four lane highway.

Title: That was lucky!
Post by: DarkWolf91 on April 22, 2009, 07:46:22 AM

Eh, there really wasn't that much danger. Any pilot capable enough to build his own plane would have no trouble landing after an engine stall. Those things are designed to glide indefinitely in such situations, and seeing as the control system (rudders) is operated mechanically rather than electronically, it would not have been compromised. The only thing that would have been forfeit is the ability to produce additional thrust, which means no speed increase and no climbs. But then, you don't really need that to land anyways :p
Like I said, any capable pilot. I'm really impressed that he built a plane in the first place, though. That's something I'd like to do one day.

Title: That was lucky!
Post by: Kor on April 22, 2009, 01:06:06 PM

At least they landed safely and the road they landed on had no cars using it.   I wonder if they calibrated afterward.  

If someone could somehow do it in an ordered manner, some folks would pay for a similar ride as that.

Title: That was lucky!
Post by: raga on April 22, 2009, 03:22:16 PM

I agree with Darkwolf.  I don't have a pilot's license but I have taken flight lessons and have logged about twenty hours of flight time.  It really wasn't that dangerous of a situation, yes it could have proved fatal but an experience pilot (not me, I can hardly land on runway with a working engine!) should be able to handle it quite well.  Modern airplanes are amazing gliders, even a fully loaded jumbo jet can glide for distances you wouldn't believe.  In fact on hot days you often have to fight the plane in order to get it down, you can be sitting just a couple feet over the runway, engine idled, nose pitched up, and just keep coasting until there's no runway left!  It still probably got the adrenalin flowing though, thats why I though it was a crazy ride.

Title: That was lucky!
Post by: DarkWolf91 on April 22, 2009, 05:07:56 PM

Adrenaline? Yeah, especially for the passenger :lol
I'm excited to hear that you've logged flight hours, raga! I'm actually going for my pilot's license this summer!

Title: That was lucky!
Post by: raga on April 22, 2009, 05:49:44 PM

Oh, wow!  Good luck!  I probably won't finish my license for years though, I'm just to busy to consistently commit the time.  I get it sometime in the future though, I've promised myself that.

Title: That was lucky!
Post by: DarkWolf91 on April 22, 2009, 07:43:47 PM

Thanks!
Yeah, I started mine in December. Currently I'm much more book smart in regards to the whole thing than anything else :lol But I'm very excited about logging more hours. And fortunately I'm going to have a nice chunk of free time this summer.
Good luck with yours, as well! Flight is really a spectacular thing.