Reverse Thrust Engines?

 

at the 1:20 mark you can see the pilot apply the thrust reversers on in mid flight.

 

I was a engine mechanic on the C-17 for 4 years. They are capable to go into thrust reverse in the air, but it cant go past idol, as there is a stop that prevents the throttles from going any further.

I can confirm that.

I was a flying crew chief for a couple of years on 17's(regular crew chief for 4). In my time flying I only did one tac decent with TR's deployed. It can do it, but she doesn't really like to due to stress on the doors. Plus TR disags were such a common problem I think most pilots didn't like the idea of deploying them in flight.

I can confirm that.

 

Plus TR disags were such a common problem I think most pilots didn't like the idea of deploying them in flight.

And I can confirm that. TR door disag's were a real pain in the @$$. Just trying to rig the core reversers were about a 2 day job in itself.

Maintenance on the C-17 has its moments, just like all planes. They can be good and not require alot of work, but when crap hits the fans, it seems one thing after another was breaking. TR doors I would say were the biggest maintenance problem on the C-17, as who ever designed the doors really put it to boeing and the Air Force.

DC-8s were originally outfitted with a pair of speedbrakes on the belly, just aft of the wing trailing edge. They were ineffective, so the aircraft ended up getting certified with #2 and 3 reversers that were operable at flight-idle.

That applies to the -10, 20, 30, 40, 50, and Super 60s. The Super 70s with CFM56s, I'm honestly not sure about.

That applies to the -10, 20, 30, 40, 50, and Super 60s. The Super 70s with CFM56s, I'm honestly not sure about.

The 70's could do it as well, and it was a bit more sporty than previous variants for obvious reasons.

I used to fly a gulfstream II. I had heard back in the day, pilots used to deploy reverse before touchdown. So, me, being experimental, decided to try it. Just over the threshold, throttles at idle, deployed the tr's. It was very smooth. I felt a slight decrease in airspeed and the nose lifted just a bit. The touchdown was smooth. The only downside would have been having to do a go around. Anyway, hope i am not rambling too much, i am on a charter trip to bermuda this weeknd and on my 3rd pint of Guiness!

Wouldn't guess it to be something very advisable at all though. Anything happens to an engine and you're pretty much f***'d - a nice stall with no altitude, no?

Actually, if a engine failed at that moment, you would have less reverse force since only one engine is generating reverse thrust.

True, but it's asimetrical thrust at low speed. Correct me if I'm wrong, but that's very likely to end up as a very ugly stall, I think.

There's a crash in Brazil where a pilot was flying a propeller-driven EMB-120 Brasilia as far as I remember, set the engines to reverse in-flight, lost an engine, ended up in a snap stall at low altitude and crashed, no survivors.

That may be true of that incident. But, when i was "experimenting" both engines were at idle reverse (basically, buckets deployed with no thrust applied other than idle). So, a failure of one engine would really have no advesre affect. I fly a lear 55 now, and we do practice thrust reverser deployment at v1. It is flyable as long as you put enought rudder in. I dont have any large turbo prop time, but, my guess he must have been right at stall speed with the operating engine producing lots of power.

A-10s do not have reverse thrust. Most fighters dont even have it.

I know this is going to sound crazy, but last night I was flying the "Instant Action-Take Off mission out of Nellis in the A-10C .

Took off with the AI wing man, flew around for a bit, landed, taxi'd around while 2 landed and took a long taxi to the end of the runway and parked in a square shaped parking area about 3 0'clock (see image).

I eventually taxi out, took off and used the comms screen to instruct him to rejoin. While I circled the airfield, I used the "other aircraft" external view to see if he would comply. After a few minutes of waiting, I looked again and he was actually backing out of his spot, in reverse (counter clockwise).

At first I thought it was odd that he didn't just roll forward (turn left) to exit the parking area... then I wondered how in the world he was backing up.

I will try to replicate it this evening and get a video capture.

then I wondered how in the world he was backing up.

By using his magical AI powers. Or were the guys that pushed back the aircraft just wearing good camo?

I know this is going to sound crazy

That's not crazy at all, it's just the DCS AI and their special skills ;)