Engine-Out Glide Performance

Engine-Out Glide Performance

A pilot’s awareness of an airplane’s power-off glide performance is critical for successfully responding to an engine failure in flight. Pilot’s operating handbooks (POH) and airplane flight manuals (AFM) provide the minimum required glide information (which varies based upon the regulatory requirements at the time of certification); however, there is more information that can better equip pilots to extract the maximum glide performance from an airplane. Information about the effect of weight changes on the glide is available, but it is not typically found in POHs/AFMs, nor does it seem to be common knowledge among pilots. Information concerning optimum bank angles to use in gliding turns is much less available and seems to be completely unknown to pilots.

This presentation will cover the weight correction to best glide speed, and it will present recently published, peer-reviewed research revealing optimum bank angles to use in engine-out gliding turns for maximizing glide range. Guidance for implementing both the weight correction to best glide speed and optimum bank angles in gliding turns will be provided. This includes preflight calculations, in-flight emergency checklist item creation, and best-practice training suggestions for use by flight instructors. The goal is to train pilots with the knowledge and practical skills to extract an airplane’s available performance to handle engine-out emergencies as safely as possible.

Presenter