Tailspin Turtle
2025-06-19T23:38:00
permalink Post: 11906487

Quote:

Originally Posted by MatthiasC172

Can someone help me with the calculations on how far from the point of our last ADS-B readout we can expect the stricken jet to fly/glide?
I am assuming the take off mass around 190-200 tons with 50 tons of fuel. For the glide phase this is of no importance, however.
Data on the Internet puts the glide ratio of a 789 around 18-21:1. Gear and flaps/slats out should have a significant negative effect. Does anyone have a good take how much? Minus 40%?
From the available data we can infer the plane never was higher than 200\x92 AAL, maybe even 100\x92. If I understood the online sources correctly, the point of impact was only about 20\x92 lower than the average runway level.
If I am not mistaken the distance from the last ADS-B point to the impact site is about 2 km as per Reuters and the Guardian. That would put it at 6,500\x92.
I just can\x92t get these numbers over each other without the aircraft producing thrust. Please help me correcting the numbers.

In prior posts, I used approximately the same numbers and came to a similar conclusion (we can't rule out the possibility that there was a least idle thrust available after the loss of thrust), using a guess of a 44% reduction for the configuration from a max L/D of 21. Starting with the height and distance being approximate however, we also don't know what the airspeed/angle of attack was at any point in the descent versus the speed for the maximum (and unknown) L/D for the gear and flaps extended and the RAT out, the amount of headwind, the increase in L/D in ground effect (at a height less than the wingspan) over other than a smooth surface, thermal activity in a urban area, the distance gained in the flare at the end, etc.

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