News for hackers. Stuff that matters.

A comment on How trains could replace planes in Europe. Parent comment

Re:How trains could replace planes in Europe by LegitShady on Friday November 12, 2021 @11:33AM (#29201122)
The slowing isn't using gas - its not like they put the plane in reverse to slow it down. They're descending and trading potential energy for energy to maneuver at low altitudes. The thrust is near idle.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:How trains could replace planes in Europe by EdwardDiego on Saturday November 13, 2021 @01:51AM (#29207960)
True, but not every approach to an airport is a nice constant vector.

Continuous descent operations are the optimal, but there's plenty of suboptimal airport approaches that require level flight at a height where fuel efficiency is far less than at cruising altitude.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:How trains could replace planes in Europe by LegitShady on Saturday November 13, 2021 @09:19AM (#29209885)
Do you have any statistics to say it happens so often that airplane landings are so suboptimal that they use anywhere near climbing fuel rates and times that it matters to the overall discussion? It seems unlikely to me.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:How trains could replace planes in Europe by dredmorbius on Sunday November 14, 2021 @03:50AM (#29216136)
They don't.

Nor can they actually read and interpret the sources they did scrounge up:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29207783

[ Parent | on HN ]