How many 15,000' runways are there? Also, the shuttle lands at 225 mph, somewhat faster than most planes. The biggest problem with "no power" landings is that you don't get a second chance. You may have noticed that the shuttle is only allowed to land when & where the weather is _perfect_. In many cases, the shuttle was forced to land in California because the Florida landing site had bad weather too many days in a row. I've never seen the shuttle try to land with a significant crosswind; it may not be possible, and it certainly wouldn't be pleasant if it were possible. Landing in a crosswind means that you have the rudder pushed hard to one side just to keep the plane lined up, and then just as the wheels touch down, you have to allow the wheels to take over the job. Ask any sailplane (glider) owner why the wings detach. A: you end up landing in all kinds of places & have to take the thing apart to get it out of there. When a plane lands on a carrier, it immediately goes to full power, just in case the tailhook doesn't hook, in which case it simply takes off & comes around again. A large drone recently landed safely on a carrier -- probably mostly robotically -- so expect carriers to get a lot more drones in the future. BTW, most airliners have had the ability to land by themselves for quite a number of years, but I'm not aware of this capability ever having been used. Given the number of incidents of human pilots landing at the wrong airport (in some cases, at an airport where the plane cannot even take off from !!), perhaps the robot landing would be an improvement. At 09:32 AM 6/11/2014, Simon Plouffe wrote:

Hello,

as every body knows, the space shuttle is gliding its way down to the earth (well is used to be), it goes at a speed of thousands of kilometres per hour and what baffles me is the fact that despite the tremendous speed it touches the ground very gently, like 'tip toes in the tulips' as tiny tim used to say.

Then : why is it that modern airplanes are not using the same trick to get to the airport ??? without using any gas, Is there something I am missing here ?

I know that an airplane can glide a little and also that if it is the case has little manoeuvring (spelling) power , but still , why does airplanes uses a lot of airplane fuel when actually they just have to glide to the airport ???

If you know the answer to this profound aerodynamic puzzle I will be glad to ear it.

Best regards and bonne soirée,

Simon plouffe