I read somewhere (pre internet, so it must be true!!!1!) that the wing loading of a fighter is roughly equivalent of using a manhole cover as a frisbee.
In other words, anything can fly if you give it enough afterburner.
Many military aircraft are designed to not glide well, because gliding well means that a plane is less agile. Most modern fighter jets go almost immediately into a tumble if they lose power, since they require constant computerized corrections to remain stable.
Its probably a bit more important in a hobbyist or even a commercial plane.
Just about any can glide, but not necessarily well.
I never knew about the glide ratio of large jets! And this story is amazing, mostly for the simultaneous levels of stupidity and competence involved.
Isn't one person's competence offsetting another person's stupidity what programmers and sysadmins do all day, every day anyway? ;)
It actually is - each plane as an ideal glide speed that you pitch the plane to match during an engine-out. 1 mile per 1k feed above ground level is a good rule of thumb for glide distance at this speed.