Quote:
Originally Posted by cRiPpLe_rOoStEr
I remember reading about the ability of the DeltaHawk engine to remain running after a belt failure, back in 2007 when I first found about this engine. Claims were the turbocharger could sustain enough pressure to keep it operating for a safe (well, sort of) landing.
|
This is a Sailplane or Glider:
No engine.
When you're landing; you're either landing, or you're landing..!
Yet; there they are, FAA etc approved.
How does that work!?
Sailplanes are like a bicycle with the chain removed:
You can go downhill; no problem.
It's only when you want to go uphill (and run out of momentum) that you miss the chain = engine power.
The difference between a chainless bicycle and a glider is that you; the pilot gets to choose 'The hills'.
ie YOU get to choose/make 'the hills', up or down, fast or slow with the joystick.
As long as you keep going 'downhill' enough to stay at an airspeed above stall (where the wings produce enough lift to keep you aloft) you're golden.
ie:
What an engine does for a plane, from a safety POV, is allow you to go:
"Oops! I've buggered this landing up!" 'Put the chain back on' = Slam on the power; climb, and go around and try again.
Now if the engine is running at half power; does it have enough power to climb that 'hill'..?
To me it seems like all the 'must have half power' regulation is... regulation for the sake of regulation.
All it really does is increase how far you can fly to find somewhere to (one chance) land.
So:
How is 'No Engine': Fine: Here's your FAA certificate.
but
If you happen to have an engine; it must keep working when half of it has caught fire and melted off..?
The other thing to consider:
WHO would you rather fly with:
Someone who learned to fly gliders 1st (and survived to get a glider's license) before getting a powered plane license.
or
Someone who thinks planes stop dead and just fall like stones as soon as the engine dies..?
(exaggeration)
(They also know how to gain height, using vertically upward winds/thermals etc, which saves a lot of fuel!.
I have seen a Cessna 182 (generally considered under-powered) with 4 large men in it climb to 11 000 feet in a matter of minutes, then go where it's going fast, thanks to the trip now being all 'downhill'.
Piotrsko (if he's not too busy imagining seized solid engines) will tell you that that's not some you see)