"Dudley Henriques" wrote in message
...

There's a great story about the crew of a Pan Am Stratocruiser I think it
was, who were low on fuel and a long way out over the ocean. They let down
to within a wingspan's distance over the water, leaned it back a ton,
played with the RPM, and made it home.
Can't remember the source of the story, but I do remember reading it a
long time ago.

Don't you have to be within half the wing span to benefit much from ground
effect?