For many nervous flyers, the fear of an engine failing mid-flight is unsettling enough. But the idea of both engines failing? That’s the nightmare scenario. A silent sky, a powerless plane, and nothing but free fall between you and the ground. At least, that’s how the imagination frames it. But the reality is far less dramatic — and far more survivable.
Modern commercial aircraft are not gliders, but they’re built to glide. They’re not powerless bricks in the sky. And when both engines fail — in the rare cases that it happens — the aircraft remains flyable, controllable, and fully capable of reaching a safe landing. Not because of luck. Because of design, training, physics, and planning.
This article will break down exactly what happens during a dual engine failure, why it almost never results in disaster, and how pilots are trained to handle the situation calmly and professionally. We’ll explore the aerodynamics, the redundancy systems, and the real-world case studies that prove one thing clearly: losing both engines is rare — but it’s not the end.
Why Dual Engine Failures Are Incredibly Rare
Before diving into what happens when both engines stop, it’s worth establishing how incredibly unlikely that is to begin with. Commercial jet engines are some of the most reliable machines on Earth. Each one is built to survive thousands of flight hours under extreme temperatures, pressures, and environmental conditions. They’re inspected, tested, and overhauled constantly — not when they break, but before they ever come close.
Statistically, an engine failure occurs on roughly one in every one million flights. But a dual engine failure — both engines shutting down simultaneously — is so rare that globally, it has only happened a handful of times in the jet age. Birds, fuel contamination, volcanic ash, and extreme weather are among the few things that have triggered such events, and even then, they are exceptional outliers.
The industry does not rely on that rarity alone. It plans, trains, and prepares for it.
Understanding What a Jet Engine Does — And Doesn’t Do
A common misconception is that once the engines fail, the aircraft simply drops. But this isn’t true. A jet engine provides two main things: thrust to propel the aircraft forward, and power to drive on-board systems such as hydraulics and electricity.
When engines shut down, what disappears is the thrust — not the aircraft’s ability to fly. At cruising altitude, a commercial aircraft is already moving at hundreds of miles per hour, generating significant lift. If both engines were to stop, the aircraft wouldn’t stall or fall. It would begin a controlled glide.
And unlike smaller planes, large commercial jets are surprisingly efficient gliders. Depending on the model, they can glide roughly 15 to 20 miles for every mile of altitude. At 35,000 feet, that’s up to 100 miles of gliding range — with full flight control still available.
Controlled Gliding: The Hidden Superpower of Commercial Aircraft
Aircraft are designed with high lift-to-drag ratios. That means they can maintain forward motion — and stay airborne — without engines. Pilots are trained in the exact glide ratios of their aircraft and know how to manage the descent in an engine-out scenario.
The key principle is best glide speed. This is the speed at which the aircraft achieves the greatest distance per unit of altitude lost. By pitching the aircraft to this precise attitude, pilots ensure maximum range. Airspeed is maintained, control surfaces remain fully active, and the aircraft stays stable.
During a glide, pilots can still steer, descend, and make decisions. They can assess landing options, communicate with ATC, and run emergency procedures.
The aircraft remains fully controllable.
Real-World Example: US Airways Flight 1549
Perhaps the most famous example of a successful dual engine failure is US Airways Flight 1549 — often referred to as the “Miracle on the Hudson.”
In 2009, shortly after takeoff from New York’s LaGuardia Airport, the Airbus A320 struck a flock of Canadian geese. Both engines lost power. The aircraft was at just 2,800 feet. That’s barely a fraction of normal cruising altitude — and yet, within minutes, Captain Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger and First Officer Jeffrey Skiles glided the aircraft to a flawless water landing on the Hudson River. All 155 people on board survived.
What’s often missed in popular retellings is that this wasn’t luck. It was a textbook execution of glide dynamics, emergency checklists, crew coordination, and judgement under pressure. The aircraft’s systems held. The crew’s training kicked in. The redundancy built into the machine and the team delivered exactly what it was meant to: survivability.
The Role of the Ram Air Turbine (RAT)
One of the critical systems that activates in a dual engine failure is the Ram Air Turbine, or RAT. This is a small propeller that deploys from the fuselage into the airflow. It uses the force of the airstream to generate power — spinning like a windmill — and provides hydraulic and electrical energy to essential systems.
In other words, even with no engines running, the RAT ensures that pilots retain vital instruments, flight controls, and communication ability. It powers the essentials: stabilisers, rudder, ailerons, and displays. Without it, the aircraft might become uncontrollable. With it, flight crews can maintain full situational awareness and guide the aircraft safely to the ground.
The RAT is automatically triggered in many aircraft types when dual engine failure is detected. It’s not an optional system. It’s a built-in safety lifeline — tested, certified, and maintained with the same rigour as every other critical component.
Fuel Management and the ETOPS Principle
One source of engine failure — particularly on long overwater flights — is fuel exhaustion or contamination. While extremely rare, it has happened, which is why the aviation world applies a strict principle called ETOPS: Extended-range Twin-engine Operational Performance Standards.
ETOPS dictates how far a twin-engine aircraft is allowed to fly from a diversion airport. For example, an ETOPS-180 certification means the aircraft can be up to 180 minutes (three hours) from the nearest suitable airport — which covers most of the globe.
To achieve ETOPS certification, aircraft and airlines must prove not only that their engines are reliable, but that their fuel systems, fire suppression, oil systems, and onboard maintenance procedures meet enhanced safety standards. Pilots undergo additional training, and maintenance is held to even higher inspection intervals.
ETOPS doesn’t eliminate the risk of engine loss. It ensures that even if both engines are lost — due to fuel contamination, for example — the aircraft is never outside gliding range of a viable airport.
What Pilots Do in a Dual Engine Failure
Pilots are trained for this. In every recurrent simulator check — usually every six months — pilots are tested on engine failures, both single and dual. The sequence is ingrained:
First, they establish best glide speed. This preserves altitude and range.
Next, they perform a series of memory items: critical steps to restart engines, configure systems, and activate emergency tools like the RAT. They manage fuel flow, ignition switches, cross-bleeds, and fire detection.
Communication with ATC is attempted. If they’re in radar coverage, controllers will provide vectors to the nearest runway. If not, the pilots assess terrain visually or via onboard systems and make decisions based on altitude, distance, and wind.
Landing gear can be lowered manually. Flaps can be used sparingly, or omitted if hydraulic pressure is limited. The aircraft is flown like a giant, heavy glider — but flown, nonetheless.
A safe landing is not only possible — it’s expected.
Survivable Case Studies Beyond the Hudson
US Airways 1549 was not the first. Nor the only.
In 1983, Air Canada Flight 143 — known as the Gimli Glider — ran out of fuel mid-flight due to a metric conversion error. The Boeing 767 lost both engines at 41,000 feet. The pilots glided the aircraft over 75 miles and landed safely on a disused airstrip. No one was killed.
In 2001, an Airbus A330 operated by Air Transat also lost both engines over the Atlantic due to fuel leakage. At night, in darkness, with no thrust, the crew glided the aircraft for 19 minutes and landed safely in the Azores.
These are not flukes. They are the result of design, procedure, training, and control. And they prove that thrust is not the only thing keeping an aircraft in the air.
Myth: Without Engines, There’s No Control
This is perhaps the most harmful misconception.
Engines do not control the aircraft — the control surfaces do. The yoke, the ailerons, the elevators, and the rudder all continue to work in a glide. As long as air flows over the wings, the aircraft remains stable and controllable.
What changes is the descent angle. Instead of maintaining level cruise, the aircraft must descend — gradually, predictably — and reach an appropriate landing zone.
Landing without thrust is not ideal. But it is manageable. The runway (or alternate surface) is aligned, the descent rate managed, and the approach configured.
It’s not unlike how gliders operate daily — without any engine at all.
Myth: You’ll Lose Power, Lights, and Instruments
In a well-maintained aircraft, that’s simply untrue.
Electrical buses are automatically prioritised during engine loss. Essential flight instruments — including attitude, speed, altitude, and navigation — are retained. Standby instruments serve as a backup if electronic displays fail.
Interior lighting may dim. Some non-essential systems may shut off. But flight safety systems are protected.
RATs, backup batteries, and auxiliary power systems exist for exactly this reason — to prevent the cockpit from ever going dark.
Why Aircraft Are Designed This Way
Every modern aircraft is certified under rigorous international standards. These include simulations of all major failure scenarios, including dual engine failure. Designers must prove that the aircraft remains controllable and landable under those conditions.
Test flights validate glide ratios. System design ensures backups are in place. Engine firewalls, cross-feeds, fire extinguishers, and disconnect switches provide containment. And pilots are trained to execute every stage of response — from memory and from checklists.
This isn’t theoretical. It’s written into every aircraft’s DNA.
And it’s validated — over and over again — in simulators, training sessions, and the occasional real-life incident that proves the systems work.
The Psychological Reframe: Reducing the Fear
What terrifies most passengers about engine loss is the image — not the outcome. We imagine silence, panic, doom. But silence in the sky doesn’t mean chaos. It means glide. It means decision-making. It means trained professionals executing a checklist.
Your fear response, governed by the amygdala, may interpret engine loss as immediate danger. But the prefrontal cortex — the rational brain — can overrule that response with facts.
Glide range. Training. RAT deployment. Dual pilots. Simulated practice. Redundancy. Successful precedents.
You are not flying on faith. You are flying on a system that has thought about this moment in advance — and built solutions into every surface.
Final Thought: This Isn’t a Cliff — It’s a Slope
When people think of a dual engine failure, they picture a sudden drop, like a car falling off a cliff.
But a more accurate image is a long, smooth ski slope. The aircraft continues moving forward. It continues gliding. It continues responding to control inputs. And at the bottom of that slope is a runway, a field, a body of water — a plan.
Aviation doesn’t hope nothing fails. It assumes something might. And it’s built to handle it.
So if you ever feel fear creep in at the thought of losing both engines, remember: we’ve seen it happen. We’ve seen it end well. And it’s not luck. It’s engineering.
Disclaimer
For full legal, medical, psychological, and technical disclaimers relating to all content on this website, please refer to The Cockpit King’s official disclaimer page. All information is provided for educational and informational purposes only.
