It feels like a nightmare scenario for the passengers of the plane: take a look out the window between the bites of the mini-pretzel to see an engine covered in flames, which throws pieces of metal during the flight from 10,000 meters in the air. That was exactly the look that greeted the passengers of United Flight 328 on Saturday shortly after leaving Denver for Honolulu.
A jet of about 500,000 pounds with a single engine seems as likely as a candidate to fly like a single-wing condor. And yet, for all the danger that Boeing 777 posed this weekend – and there was a lot, especially in the suburbs of Denver subjected to the widespread debris thrown by the plane’s Pratt & Whitney PW4077 engine – staying in the air was extremely low on the list. In fact, the remaining engine is theoretically powerful enough to have done the rest of the flight on its own.
This has not always been the case with large aircraft. For decades, the Federal Aviation Administration has not allowed twin-engine planes to travel in over an hour, let alone from the Midwest to a Pacific paradise. “It’s going to be a cold day in hell before I let the twins fly long distances over the water,” FAA Administrator Lynn Helms insisted when Boeing asked the FAA to change the rule in 1980, according to Robert J. Sterling of 1991 history of the aerospace giant. If an engine failed, you would have at least two more to rely on.
Eventually, the FAA gave in, extending the 60-minute rule to 120 and then to 180 minutes as the 1980s continued. Credit improved engines for changing the heart, rather than an increased risk appetite.
Passengers on Flight 328 were alarmed when they discovered that the engine on the left caught fire minutes after takeoff.
Photos: Chad Schnell / Getty Images“A single engine must have enough traction to keep the plane moving and even climb if necessary,” says Ella Atkins, an aerospace engineer at the University of Michigan. This applies even in the worst case, she says, such as losing an engine while you are in the process of taking off. The remaining engine must be powerful enough, if necessary, to transport you alone in the air.
This does not mean that the engine failure is without consequences, especially when a fire is involved. It introduces a number of complications, regardless of the size of the aircraft or the complexity of its automatic systems. “Many pilots travel their entire careers without a single engine failure, even if we train for it,” says Bob Meder, president of the National Association of Flight Instructors. “Generally, you make your memory items for the plane you fly first. You have started the engine, secured the engine and stopped the flow of fuel to the engine. ”