December 28, 2007
Any Landing You Can Walk Away from...

Remember the one about the propeller really being meant to keep the pilot cool?

Suspended at 16,000 feet in an airplane with no power, no propeller and motor oil streaming across the front windshield, 60-year-old Barry Cox remembered that panic wasn't going to do much good.
...
Looking out the side windows, and relying on 35 years of flying into that tricky Aspen airport, Cox carefully took the plane down to runway.

If PC simulators are as accurate as they claim to be, dead stick landings are possible on even the largest aircraft as long as the pilot has enough skill, altitude, and a reasonably flat place somewhere close by. On light private aircraft, they're not even particularly difficult. It's the "keeping cool and watching the instruments" bit that's the real trick.

Posted by scott at December 28, 2007 07:39 AM

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