747 Engine Failure On Thai Airways Flight Tg116 5:15 Bankok To Chang Mai

[jetjock]

I noticed this topic a few days late but for those aviation afficionados, I thought I would comment on a couple of postings that were not exactly correct information. Statements were made that the 747 can "easily fly on one engine" which is not true and another poster inferred that pilots are trained to fly the 747 with only one which is also not true. How well a 747 will maintain altitude with engines out is mostly dependent on it's gross weight and what altitude the pilot is trying to maintain (the lower the gross weight and the lower the altitude, the better it will fly). The 747 will not maintain altitude on one engine unless it has virtually no fuel or payload and therefore is extremely light (which would not be a normal scenerio). Pilot training for 747 regulated by the FAA are trained with one engine or two engines out but not normally with 3 engines out (probably because it is a highly unlikely scenerio and because under normal conditions even after dumping fuel, one engine would normally at best only increase your gliding distance to an airport. I was lucky enough to have access to my companies multimillion dollar 747 simulators so when I wanted to mess around and have some fun, I used to go in and play around doing one engine approaches, rolls, spins, etc so there is some validity to my opinion on this subject. I made many one engines approaches and landings in the simulator but the experience is just one step above making a dead stick landing. IMHO the 747 is the finest passenger liner I have ever flown and I will guarantee that it definitely flies much better with two engines out than does a 777.

[BlackArtemis]

747's are pretty stout and can make due when one engine goes.

I clearly remember in 1987 I was 5 and heading to israel to my step sister's wedding. I was in a window seat on the wing and all of the sudden the engine furthest from the cabin erupted in flames. Fuel was cut and an emergency landing in Amsterdam became the game plan. I don't recall being scared or mass amounts of turbulence.

But stiil, I don't think anyone wants to be in these kind of situations, passengers or pilots. Kudos for them for doing a good job.