[alexander_busek]

Question from ignorance: if a plane is flying at full speed and the engine cuts out, won’t the momentum allow it to glide to a landing at the nearest airfield under pilot control?

I'm not a car driver, so pardon my ignorance: But if a car is traveling at full speed, and then the engine suddenly cuts out, won't the momentum allow it to "coast" to the nearest gas station?

Regards,

[Buttons12]

Hard to compare car momentum to planes. You’ll (almost) never see a car turned over by a blast of wind.
Aircraft are vulnerable. Ditto ships that can get dunked quite unexpectedly by rogue waves, not to mention the configuration of sails.
The wings that keep you up are the wings that will get you crashed to smithereens.
It can all happen before human error even gets its pants on.

[rktman]

Well it will coast to someplace but not very far. Friction and stuff with tires and road.