How long can a plane go without an engine?

Can a plane fly if all its engines have failed? A passenger aircraft will glide perfectly well even if all its engines have failed, it won't simply fall out the sky. Infact it can fly for around 60 miles if it loses its engines at a typical cruise altitude of 36,000ft.



A modern commercial passenger jet can glide for a significant distance even if all engines fail, typically following a lift-to-drag ratio of about 10:1 to 15:1. This means that for every 10 miles of forward travel, the plane will lose approximately 1 mile of altitude. From a standard cruising altitude of 35,000 feet (roughly 6.6 miles), a plane could glide for 60 to 100 miles, providing the pilots with roughly 20 to 30 minutes of flight time to locate a suitable landing site. This was famously demonstrated by the "Gimli Glider" (Air Canada Flight 143) and Air Transat Flight 236. The aircraft does not simply "fall out of the sky"; it becomes a very heavy glider, and pilots are trained to maintain a specific "best glide speed" to maximize the distance and time available for an emergency landing.

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A passenger aircraft will glide perfectly well even if all its engines have failed, it won't simply fall out the sky. Infact it can fly for around 60 miles if it loses its engines at a typical cruise altitude of 36,000ft.

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