Jet aicraft

[dumphuq]

When a heavy passenger jet lands, reverse engine thrust is used to slow it down. How does this work, given that the engines work by taking air in through the front and expelling exaust gasses through the back?

[Loosehead]

The jet is focused forwards by some mechanism or other so it acts like a brake. On Ryan air jets (737??) if you look at the engine when it's on reverse thrust, there are a couple of scoops that move around the normal jet output and the thrust is effectively directed at 180 degrees.

[Toureman]

Just for interest, especialy if you are about to take a flight there have been one or two incidents with the reverse thrusters activating whilst the aircraft was in flight!

Have a happy holiday.

[qapmoc]

And it looks and works like this.

Dont worry about the reverse thrusters deploying during flight, all good pilots can fly backwards.

[BillyNoMates]

It is of course, a little known fact that the reverse thrusters have to be deployed 'in-flight' when crossing the equator from the Northern to Southern hemisphere. This is in order that the aircraft continues to travel in the same direction.

[KebabMeister]

The Panavia Tornado is one of the few military fighter aircraft to have thrust reverse as well. It's equipped with buckets that direct the thrust forward. The tail of the aircraft is often covered in soot because of this :)