r/nextfuckinglevel • u/-rbbt • 26d ago

Engine fails during student pilot’s flight

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u/brunaBla 26d ago

How does this happen? Is this true for smaller planes only?

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u/crazy_cookie123 26d ago

Planes stay in the air because of the wings, and the wings don't suddenly disappear when you lose your engines. Planes can glide for quite a while when they lose power provided they have enough altitude.

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u/brunaBla 26d ago

Thank you for your answer.

I guess I was picturing 747 head on plane crashes and wondered why they couldn’t glide too? But I’m sure a lot of other factors were at play too

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u/Thecna2 25d ago

The longest glide for a big jet is an A330 which had to glide for 120 km/75 mi over the Atlantic to land on one smallish island. They still had 10-20 mins left before they hit the ocean. So they can glide a long way if things are right.