Date: 04 Apr 2001 16:41:07
From: Steve <no@spam.thanks>
Organization: I only wish....
References: 1 2
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Daniele Procida wrote:
> )
>
> As someone who is scared out of his wits by aeroplanes, I much prefer
> MD-80s and the like, because the sight of those enormous heavy engines
> making those delicate wings bend up and down in that terrifying fashion
> is something I can really do without. At least on a MD-80 I don't spend
> the entire flight checking to see if the wings are going fall off.
Ahh, but looks are deceiving ;-)
the biggest *drag* force on an aircraft comes from the wing- whether the
engines are on the tail or on the wing. Also, its the wing that holds the
plane *up* in the first place. So, if the engines are on the wing, there's
actually less stress overall since the thrust of the engines has to be
transmitted through less structure to counter the drag on the wings. And
besides, thats all trivial compared to holding the whole thing up anyway.
> Instead I worry about an uncontained blade failure ripping into the
> fuselage or destroying the tailplane.
It happens... but so do car wrecks, strokes, heart attacks, and meteor
strikes.
No sense living in terror of everything....
