How Far Can Aircraft Fly On One Engine?

It’s the nightmare scenario that those who fear flying all dread. One of the engines on a jetliner completely malfunctions. This is definitely not a scenario that anyone would choose, but is there any need to panic in this situation?

Video sources:

Photo sources:

Simple Flying:

Follow us on social media:

#aviation #flight #avgeek #airlines #flying

[dewiz]

Pilot Multi-Engine Training: Mostly learning how to fly on one engine. . .

[statistics_em]

In 2007 I was on a 747 and we lost an engine shortly after takeoff from JFK. We circled for a while to dump fuel, then lost a second engine just before doing a fly-by (not sure if it was an aborted landing or just to inspect for damage). I never found out what happened, but the airline put us up in a hotel for two nights and we got served airplane meals in the hotel dining room. It was a weird experience.

[alexriosfilm]

When I was a kid I was in an Avianca flight from BOG to CTG in a 727-200. Aparently one of the engines blew on take of and we had to go back to BOG. I know... after 1 engine blows in a 727 you still have 2 more to go. Still, it's the only incident I have ever experienced with the loss of an engine. I didn't notice what happened and learned in the aftermath what had happened

[shauryakhetan]

I have encountered such an incident...a few years back I was heading from Mumbai to Ahmedabad on Indigo Airlines, during takeoff a bird hit our left engine and we all saw smoke coming out of it. A few passengers got anxious and a couple of them even removed the life-vests just for fun. We landed at our departure airport 30 mins after circling in the air due to heavy traffic at Mumbai Airport. We landed safely, switched planes, saw a lot of fire-trucks waiting for us when we landed. Overall it cost us a delay of 3-4 hours and is always going to be a memorable experience 😂

[Loud_Mouth_Soup]

Flew on the now-defunct Canada 3000 in 1999 on an A330 from Toronto. Lost the engine over Ottawa and turned around to go back. Not far to go, but still tense for me. By sheer luck, their newest A330 had just arrived in Toronto from Toulouse ahead of us, and we simply swapped planes.

[EvDelen]

ETOPS: Engines Turn Or Passengers Swim

[hansraub]

In the 1990s I was on a flight from SFO to Hawaii on an L1011 when the right engine was shut down. The flight returned to SFO, engine was repaired and we took off 8 hours later.

[dennisrogers]

All very true in MOST (99.9%) cases. Unless you're United flight 1175 on February 13, 2018. That flight suffered a fan blade failure at top of descent into Honolulu. Like the incident in Denver with another United 777, the fan blade basically destroyed the fan shroud. In an interview with Juan Browne (Blancolirio), the captain, Christopher Behnam, stated that the aircraft was barely flyable. He also stated the NTSB findings concluded that had the event happened farther out from destination, they would NOT have made it to Hawaii. Hence, the grounding of all aircraft with that engine type after the Denver incident. Aerodynamic degradation due to the shroud departure is the difference between these incidents and other engine out incidents.

[tomstravels]

In most aircraft if you loose an engine you’ll also loose some electrical or hydraulic power too. On the A350 both engines can pressurise both hydraulic systems so there is no loss of hydraulic system and as there are 2 generators per engine I don’t think electrical distribution is affected much either

[walterfink]

A twin engine aircraft is designed to operate with one engine, for limited times. It's best to land safely as soon as possible, if one engine is not working. A 3 engine aircraft can operate on 2 engines. And so on. Now, when flying on a single engine aircraft, it's best to keep that engine in top working order.

[rexonalttheantiperspirant]

That a350 in the thumbnail looks so long.

[SDGreg]

Earlier this year, Juan Browne for the Blancolirio channel did a interview of the Captain from UAL 1175. In 2018 this 777-200 flying from SFO-HNL experienced a failure of one of the engines about 120 miles from HNL. This failure resulted in loss of the cowling and the engine was oscillating despite the engine being shutdown. The control of the airplane was not normal and there was severe shaking of the airframe. The airplane was able to land at HNL. During the interview the Captain mentioned that if the plane had been further out from HNL he really wasn't sure if they would have been able to make it to HNL because when the engine failed so much damage was caused. The engine was also oscillating that it was shaking the cockpit to the point that it made reading gauges difficult and even reading the checklist. Despite all this oscillation from the engine, it never separated from the airframe. This really makes me question the ETOPS certification of 300+ minutes for some of these airplanes. Especially in a catastrophic failure that results in damage to the aerodynamics of the plane trying to bring a damaged twin engine plane with only one engine and then try to fly that plane for 5+ hours on one engine.

[Taco]

Exactly why not to panic in this situation

[meik]

Good to know that most aircraft can fly with one engine. I’ve been in a situation when one engine on a 737 turned off and it was VERY scary for me. Fortunately, the engine did turn back on that time.

[DavidOfWhitehills]

Curious to know: would a plane with an engine out, forced to fly at a lower altitude, and slower, achieve better or worse mpg than that same plane with everything optimal at its ideal altitude?

[Skrivus]

All the way to the scene of the crash.

[weprusso]

Around 1986ish, I was on an Eastern 757 that blow and engine on take off out of SLC. It was more than just a compressed stall. Bits and parts landed on the runway. The plane continued its take off like normal. Had it not been for the loud bang, I doubt most passengers would have realized there was an issue. The plane circled around and landed without incident. Eastern put us on another plane and we were off again.

[RoderikvanReekum]

The Fokker 130 range covers a vast area, even with a full passenger load. Take-off and landing performance allow operations to and from remote destinations. This results in an aircraft with unique payload capability and earning power for airlines.

[djcarbontt]

Been there done that. JFK to Denver on Delta in a 737… weird vibration for the entire trip till no vibration… engine off and hard right to divert to Chicago. Plane swap. Boom.

As a matter of fact I had a stretch of planes with issues till I lost count. I remember an MD-80 power issue on takeoff leading to an aborted takeoff and that was scary. That was really scary. Ooof.

[raymondmassie]

Lost an engine on a 747-400 on take off out of JNB due to a flame out. Engine was restarted in flight with no problems. Seemingly a common problem at JNB due to cross winds affecting in board engines I believe.