Question

how does the pilot reach safe at the airport

Answer 1

The first thing the pilots would have heard or felt is a bang, and then a strong jolt as power from one engine cut out. The jet immediately banked 41 degrees to the left—twice as sharp as a standard turn. As the pilots corrected course, the plane issued audio and visual warnings. The pilots would have felt the depressurization, as pain in their ears. And then they would have started running through their emergency checklists.

“They get the idea ‘we’ve lost an engine, and lost pressure—we need to get down,’” says Douglas M. Moss, an aviation consultant with AeroPacific Consulting, who flies the Boeing 757 and 767.

First, the pilots put on their own oxygen masks and make sure the air is flowing. Stored in consoles, these typically look more like what fighter pilots wear than the flimsy yellow cups that drop onto passengers. Then they start heading for the ground. People can breathe at around 15,000 feet, but pilots aim to get below 10,000 to be safe. They don’t want to push an already damaged airframe into a steep dive, but drop as quickly as possible. Modern airliners can descend 20,000 feet in about 90 seconds. On the way down, having lost power on one side, the pilots would adjust their rudders, flaps, and other flight control surfaces to keep the aircraft balanced.