("Guy Elden Jr" wrote)
[snip]
Engine out issues aside, one thing that struck me about this accident
was the fact that these guys had so much altitude in which to glide to
a safe landing that I wonder if it was actually _too_ much altitude? I
don't know how far away the airport was that they finally decided upon
for the emergency landing attempt, but clearly they didn't succeed in
meeting their goal. Were they too complacent in thinking they'd be able
to restart the engines, given that they were nearly 8 miles up?


My thoughts exactly.

10:1 = 80 miles
15:1 = 120 miles

I wonder if they had x-length of runway as a landing requirement set in
their minds? Or, like that person in the Everglades, with a rough running
engine a month ago, heading for a patch of freeway - then diverting to an
airport that ATC advised, even though he wasn't sure if he could make it if
the engine quit. (It worked out for him)

I wonder if they had no ATC to advise them, would they have chosen to put it
down at a smaller (closer) 3,000-ft strip airport? Or, maybe they were ok
with the chosen field, but did some math wrong in their heads, and didn't
catch it until too late. Very sad.

Also, has 'no fuel' been ruled out? I might have missed that part.


Montblack