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Someone Call Sully! SAS Planes Will Save Fuel By Gliding Into Airports

Those innovative Scandinavians have struck again. SAS Airlines had a great idea for saving fuel, dollars and the environment by flying a little slower and now they have a new plan: the gliding landing method.

SAS has figured out a way for pilots to let the plane do most of the landing by itself, gliding via an optimum route mapped out by satellite. They figure it will save about 100kg of fuel if a twin-engined jet lands this way, which is cheaper for the airline and better for the environment.

Now, we're certainly not qualified pilots ourselves, but we do like to fly around in planes, and we're not 100% sure that we want to know our plane is simply being left to glide down to landing. The SAS peeps are about to try it out for real but have only done it on a simulator so far; they do admit that the technique would probably be best for "quieter airports" so we won't be gliding into London-Heathrow any time soon.

Related Stories:
· New Gliding Landing Method for Planes to Slash Fuel Consumption [The Age]
· Scandinavian Alternative to Nasty Baggage Fees [Jaunted]

[Photo: spotterjohnsen]