If you hit a flock of birds, the odds are not that small. When there are a lot of birds together, there is a significant chance of getting birds down 2 intakes, and engine failure at high power is then quite likely. A friend of mine was killed when they had a double engine failure in a military aircraft in just those circumstances.
Jerry Fisher
On Tue, Jan 20, 2009 at 5:17 AM, Michael Smith <mdpilot982@gmail.com> wrote:
Conspiracy theorists and armchair pilots: There is an evolving theory the right engine was functioning (there was no credible data verifying failure like the left one) and a functioning engine was shut down and unable to be restarted in time. The statistical probability of a dual engine failure due to ingestion is unbelievably small. NWA (now Delta) loses three to four engines a year due to ingestion, considering the number of flights the frequency is extremely small given the total number of flights and none on the same plane.
That is just what I have heard on the street relayed second hand. It will be interesting to see what the engine data shows.
Michael Smith
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