Air Traveler’s Survival Guide… What Happens if an Aircraft Loses an Engine?

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August 25, 5:46 PM

by James Schmid, Aviation Examiner

 

Some of you might have heard about the emergency landing of a Comair flight because of engine failure.  I want to answer a few questions you may have on what happens when an airplane loses an engine.

                Will the airplane fly? Yes, an aircraft is designed to continue flying despite the loss of an engine. A three or four engine aircraft can actually keep going to its intended destination with the loss of a single engine.  A two engine aircraft; however, must land immediately at the nearest safe airport.

                How can an aircraft keep flying with only one engine?  Each airplane is designed to be flown on either engine for a period of time. Certain portions of the engine operation, like air conditioning, are immediately disengaged allowing the single engine thrust to solely be used to maintain flight.

                On one engine, how do I know the airplane will not run into something?  When a flight is planned, one of the regulation requirements is to be able to maintain an altitude that will be at least one thousand feet above the highest obstacle. In other words, if there is a fourteen thousand foot mountain in front of you, the airplane must maintain an altitude of at least fifteen thousand feet. In order to accomplish this, each aircraft has a drift down chart that will give the altitude the particular plane can maintain. Before the plane takes off, each airline must prove that the route selected will comply with this requirement.

                What happens if it fails during takeoff?  Most commercial aircraft have a device that allows the surviving engine to increase power to one hundred and ten percent capacity to help the plane takeoff and maintain a safe altitude. Like in flight, the airline must prove at takeoff the airplane is light enough to still clear all obstacles (buildings, trees, towers etc) by at least one thousand feet.

                Does the pilot have experience with flying without an engine? Each pilot is trained in a simulator on how to handle an engine failure. After the initial training, the pilot must go back for recurrent training once or twice a year to make sure he or she is prepared for this situation.

                While nothing is fool proof, aircraft designers and airlines have spent many years developing technology and procedures to protect passengers from this dangerous situation.

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