Video answers: ‘Small planes over big oceans’

Here are the answers to last Friday’s video, enjoy!

Suggested ICAO level for video: 5+

The belief was that if they lost a single engine, they would only be able to fly for an hour with the one remaining engine and so, for security reasons they couldn’t fly more than an hour from a coastal airport.
They couldn’t make a profit on many routes, so the big planes only operated into and out of big cities.
They became popular as a way to avoid twin-engine restrictions while also having a lower cost than four-engine planes.
It came from the days of piston-engine aircraft. These engines were much less reliable and often broke down.
An airline also needs a special maintenance plan, a special flight crew, a special cabin crew, special dispatchers, special fuel quantities and special passenger recovery plans.
The 787 has an ETOPS rating of 330 minutes and the A350 has an ETOPS rating of 370 minutes.
Because of the bigger ETOPS ratings, three and four engine jets are becoming less and less common.