Hacker News Reader

10000 feet is quite a lot from a pilot's perspective. In a glider, this is at least 50 minutes assuming a 200fpm minimum sink rate in stable clear air (no thermals), and in an airplane with a far less efficient wing it might be around 10 minutes (a decent rate of 1000fpm).

View on HN

10 minutes sounds awfully short if you're on your way to ditch in ice cold water, and you have no idea why all your engines have stopped. :)

Primary training is done around 1500-3000 feet above ground, so you're expected to go through your troubleshooting checklist in less than a minute. If the engine failure is on takeoff or approach to land, which is the most common phase of flight for engine failure, you have tens of seconds for troubleshooting because you must leave spare time to get configured for an emergency landing. (CFII in a previous epoch.)

A Lance or Saratoga tend to sink at 1400fpm best glide. There are many other planes that fly as well as bricks without power.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com