Comment by HPsquared
1 day ago
Wider effects like damage to the wing or changes to aerodynamics.
Edit: and damage to other engines, possibly engine #2 in the tail ingesting debris in this instance.
1 day ago
Wider effects like damage to the wing or changes to aerodynamics.
Edit: and damage to other engines, possibly engine #2 in the tail ingesting debris in this instance.
That's the biggest, the weight gone entirely unbalances the plane; if you knew exactly what happened you MIGHT be able to keep it level (and it seems they did for a bit) but eventually airspeed drops, it tips, and cartwheels (which is apparently what it did from the videos).
The aircraft hit the roof of a UPS warehouse, barely clearing it before coming down in the parking lot/junkyard nearby. So when we see it turning over in its last seconds (like the trucker dash cam video), it only had one wing at that point.
Deadweight or no-weight engine is a relatively negligible problem in terms of the weight-balance envelope.
Cut fuel & hydraulic lines near that engine (that affect the other engines/ apus) (or less likely structural or aerodynamic problems) is what's going to shift this from "engine failure" recoverable problem to a global nonrecoverable one.