If you get pushed from one side only, doesnt that mean the plane can only go to the opposite lane? Or cicrling
In: 2
There is certainly a yawing (rotating like the plane was on a turntable) effect, but the plane has a rudder in the tail which can help counteract the effect. While pilots would certainly prefer to turn in one direction since the plane wants to go that way anyway, you can turn in the other direction just fine.
Yes, kind of.
A twin engine plane running on one engine will have an unbalanced force trying to make it yaw/turn. But planes have other control surfaces that can counteract that turning force. The ailerons can be used to put the plane into a shallow, counterbalancing turn, and the rudder can point the nose off center.
This causes a lot more drag, and with only partial power, the plane will not work as well. But, it should still be able to fly.
In a way, yes. If you have a plane with 2 engines and one dies, then you are going to have a tendency for the nose of the plane to slide to the left or right, whichever side the dead engine is on (this motion is called **yaw**). However, unless you have a pair of rocket engines strapped to your wings, this should be controllable. One way to control it is to use the **rudder**. The rudder is the part of the tail that sticks straight up. When it moves side to side, it also creates yaw, and you can use that to fight the yaw caused by the dead engine.
The other way, and the much more effective method, is a technique pilots call “raising the dead”. Airplanes turn by rolling their wings. The force that was pushing straight up on the wing is now angled off to the side, and that sideways tilt makes the plane turn. If you roll away from the dead engine (raising it higher than the one that’s still alive), you can cancel out the yaw caused by it.
The short answer is yes, but the force imbalance caused by the one-sided thrust is small enough that the plane’s control surfaces can fight it.
Hope that helps!
The aircraft I flew on, repaired and generally got to know better than i do most people in the marine corps has an interconnecting driveshaft. So if one engine dies, the other engine keeps the prop spinning.
That’s a turboshaft engine with a prop rotor though so I don’t think that would work for non prop driven systems.
The force is uneven, sure. Having one engine fail causes the plane to turn to one side. It isn’t a lot to one side, only a little, because most of the force is thrust pushing forward on the frame overall. It’s even less of an issue if there are more than two engines.
The pilot turns a little bit to compensate. If the plane is pulling to the right, the pilot turns a little to the left and straightens it out.
One thing to keep in mind is that for most twin engine (or more) aircraft, you need all your engines to take off, but not all of them to cruise or land.
Assuming the plane has one engine on each wing, flying on one engine means all your thrust is coming from one side. This does indeed make the plane want to fly around in circles. If the plane is designed for one engine flying, then it has been designed with large enough flaps and rudders that they can counteract the uneven force of having one engine running and still be landed safely. Basically the plane wants to drift to one side, but you steer the plane in the opposite direction to cancel out that force. The plane doesn’t fly “like normal” in this situation, it is less maneuverable or stable than normal, but still flyable by a qualified pilot.
Two engine commercial airplanes in the USA are given an ETOPS score, which is the maximum amount of time an airplane can be flown with one engine. An ETOPS score of 120 means 120 minutes (2 hours) on a single engine at maximum. An ETOPS 120 airplane can only fly routes where it never gets more than 120 minutes from an airport where it can make an emergency landing.
This is one of the reasons why three and four engine aircraft have remained common on longer routes, even though they are less efficient than two engine planes. A plane with 3 or 4 engines can more easily afford to lose an engine in flight and continue flying a long distance (such as over an ocean) where an emergency landing isn’t possible.
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