Buzz
Rescue boats surround U.S. Airways Flight 1549, which safely landed on the Hudson River on January 15, 2009, shortly after taking off from LaGuardia Airport. Remarkably, no one was seriously injured. Jerritt Clark/Getty ImagesKey Insights
- Any aircraft is capable of gliding if it loses engine power, with the gliding range and duration influenced by its altitude at the time of engine failure and the aircraft's design.
- Pilots must be familiar with their plane's "optimal glide speed" to cover the most distance without losing too much altitude, and "minimum sink speed" to maximize gliding time.
- A jetliner could potentially glide up to 100 miles (161 kilometers) if its engines failed at an altitude of 30,000 feet (9,144 meters), although such incidents are highly uncommon in modern aviation.
On January 15, 2009, U.S. Airways Flight 1549 begins boarding at New York City's LaGuardia Airport. If everything goes according to plan, the aircraft will land in Charlotte, North Carolina, later that evening.
Things don't unfold as planned.
At 3:24 p.m. Eastern Standard Time, the plane, carrying 150 passengers and five crew members, takes off. Just moments later, catastrophe strikes. A flock of Canada geese unexpectedly collides with the plane, causing both engines to fail at 2,800 feet (853 meters) above one of the largest cities in the world.
With no engine power, the aircraft loses almost all of its thrust. This is a critical issue because thrust is the force that propels airplanes (and birds) forward.
Unable to restart the engines, Capt. Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger and First Officer Jeffrey Skiles must act quickly. Time is running out, and their altitude is rapidly decreasing.
If you tuned in to any broadcast that winter day in '09, you likely know the events that followed.
Miracle on the Hudson
After weighing options like rerouting to La Guardia and Teterboro Airport in New Jersey, Sullenberger and Skiles made the heroic decision to land on the freezing waters of the Hudson River. While a few passengers sustained serious injuries, every soul aboard survived the ordeal. New York Governor David Paterson famously dubbed it the 'Miracle on the Hudson.'
The landing was both intense and extraordinary, but it wasn’t the first instance of birds creating havoc for large aircraft. When gulls or geese are sucked into an airplane's engines, the damage can be catastrophic. These so-called 'bird strikes' are the leading cause of engine failure on planes with two engines, such as the one piloted by Sullenberger.
However, a plane's engine failure during flight might not always involve birds. It's possible that ice has built up in the carburetor—an issue responsible for 212 aerial accidents between 1998 and 2007, as reported by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
Or maybe the issue was simply a lack of fuel. In 1983, a series of technical failures and mistakes with unit conversions caused an Air Canada Boeing 767 to run out of fuel while cruising at 41,000 feet (12,496 meters) over central Canada. Soon, both engines lost power.
After descending at a rate of 2,500 feet (762 meters) per minute, pilots Bob Pearson and Maurice Quintal managed to glide their Boeing all the way to a safe, albeit rocky, landing on a race car track in Manitoba. The pilots were celebrated as heroes, and the plane earned the nickname 'Gimli Glider' after the town where it landed.
Pilots Bob Pearson and Maurice Quintal were celebrated as heroes after successfully gliding their Boeing 767 from 41,000 feet to a safe landing on a race car track in Gimli, Manitoba. From that moment, the airplane was forever known as the Gimli Glider.
Wikipedia/(CC BY 4.0)How Far Can a Jetliner Glide?
In essence, any aircraft has the potential to glide if necessary. In cases where both engines fail, pilots must prepare for the aircraft to glide. Without the thrust that the engines are designed to provide, the plane will inevitably lose altitude. But how far can it glide when it wasn't designed as a glider?
Aircraft that experience engine failure at higher altitudes have the ability to glide for longer durations. This is part of what made Sullenberger and Skiles' emergency landing on the Hudson River so remarkable; they had to glide to safety in mere minutes from a relatively low altitude. (The events on U.S. Airways Flight 4951 unfolded incredibly quickly. The plane collided with birds within two minutes of takeoff, and just three minutes later, it was in the Hudson River.)
Naturally, planes come in various sizes and designs. If you're piloting one, it's crucial to understand your aircraft's 'best glide speed.' This refers to the speed at which your plane can cover the maximum distance while minimizing altitude loss.
Another important concept is the 'minimum sink speed,' which is the speed that allows you to glide the longest possible time. Depending on your situation, you might opt to prioritize time over distance, or the other way around.
In a 2013 article for USA Today, experienced pilot John Cox suggested that if a jetliner were to lose all engines at 30,000 feet (9,144 meters), it could glide approximately 100 miles (161 kilometers). This is about the distance between Los Angeles and Palm Springs, or between New York City and Atlantic City. In other words, it’s not an extensive distance.
"It is exceedingly rare for all engines to fail on a modern aircraft," Cox also pointed out. This is certainly reassuring.
Since the 1940s, some airports have employed falconers to help deter unwanted birds from their grounds. The mere presence of a trained hawk or falcon is enough to keep other bird species at bay.
