Jay Honeck opined

Both pilots are well known and respected in the Puget Sound area. Amazing
that the pilot of the 170 was able to fly his plane at all:

This is the second NTSB report I've read where pilots were able to maintain
control of an engine-less plane.

How is this possible? Without an engine up front, the CG would pitch so far
aft that the plane should fall like a maple leaf -- yet these two guys were
able to nose the plane over and maintain flight.

How can this be?

AIrspeed. Given enough airsped a tail (or nose) heavy aircraft can fly. But
the feedback becomes positive instead of negative. If you slow down the tail
drops. More down elevator is needed increasing drag. Get too slow and you
cannot recover. Computers can handle the problem better than people. See late
model jet aircraft with relaxed stability.



-ash
Cthulhu for President!
Why vote for a lesser evil?