What keeps a jet engine running?

What keeps a jet engine running?

All jet engines, which are also called gas turbines, work on the same principle. The engine sucks air in at the front with a fan. A compressor raises the pressure of the air. The burning gases expand and blast out through the nozzle, at the back of the engine.

Can an airplane glide if the engines quit?

A passenger aircraft will glide perfectly well even if all its engines have failed, it won’t simply fall out the sky. Aircraft are designed in a way that allows them to glide through the air even with no engine thrust.

How do you shutdown a jet engine?

On turbine engines that have a thrust reverser, retarding the aircraft throttle to idle or power lever to OFF cuts the fuel supply to the engine and shuts down the engine. On engines equipped with thrust reversers, this is accomplished by means of a separate fuel shutoff lever or switch.

What happens when a plane engine turns off?

With one engine now providing all the power, the aircraft will continue to fly safely but will be unable to maintain its altitude and speed. The autopilot will prioritize maintaining the assigned altitude, to the detriment of the airspeed.

Can heavy rain cause a jet engine to flame out?

Although rain and snow typically pose little danger of causing a flameout in flight, there have been a few cases when precipitation has resulted in engine failure. In August 1987, a Boeing 737 of Air Europe was descending through rain and hail to land in Greece when both of the plane’s engines experienced a flameout.

How long does jet engine last?

Older and smaller jet engines typically have TBOs of 5,000 hours at the most. More modern engines have about 6,000 hours or more. With most business jets accumulating less than 500 hours of flying time a year, the schedule for modern jet engine MRO operations averages about 12 years or more.

What happened to the Airbus A380 engines?

On the Qantas Flight 32 incident, the Airbus A380’s number two engine encountered an uncontained rotor failure and partially damaged the controls of number one engine as well. According to Wikipedia, engines one and four entered a ‘degraded mode’ after the explosion, and number one could not be shut off after landing.

How often do jet engines need to rest?

As other responders have mentioned, jet engines do not really need “rest”. In fact, there are several turbine engines commonly used on aircraft which also come in maritime versions to power ships. In that application, the engines often run for weeks (or even months) continuously without ever being shutdown.

How do jet engines work on RC planes?

For the smaller jet engines like those used on model RC airplanes, the fuel flow rate is the only power control that it has. The on-board computer will regulate the fuel flow based on what the power setting is along with the turbine speed and exhaust temperature. Larger aircraft engines also have variable guide vanes within the compressor section.

How long does it take for a jet engine to cool down?

An aircraft jet engine will require a few minutes of “cool down” after running at high power in flight, but that requirement is normally met in the 5–10 minute period it typically takes for an airliner to taxi to its parking gate after landing.