Is it just me that thinks this was stupid

"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?

"Maxwell" wrote in message
...

"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?

Ground effect can be considered generally or more accurately for a specific
aircraft.
GENERALLY speaking, you can begin to consider ground effect a factor about a
wingspan's distance above the surface.
Dudley Henriques