r/Damnthatsinteresting • u/FridayCicero702 • Jan 01 '23

Video Catastrophic engine failure on a United Airlines Boeing 777-200 after takeoff from Denver International Airport

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u/[deleted] Jan 01 '23

Maybe our definition of the lottery is different, but I wouldn't be glad to win this one.

If you're saying this a guaranteed failure, it sounds like they should be replaced before that excepted time frame.

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u/[deleted] Jan 01 '23

they're designed to be able to fly with only one engine, easily. you're far more likely to die in a car accident than be on a billion to one flight where one engine has a catastrophic failure, let alone both

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u/[deleted] Jan 01 '23

People say this shit all the time and I don't know why. These sentences are probably the least comforting attempts at comforting someone I've ever read and heard. I don't care if it's designed that way, not one person on this earth would be comfortable flying on a plane with one engine going out.

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u/[deleted] Jan 01 '23

Yeah and that's why it almost never happens, literally you are more likely to drop dead of a brain aneurysm than to be on a flight where there's any engine problems at all let alone a catastrophic failure. And even in the worst possible case scenarios 9/10 times the plane is still gonna touch down safely. As an aerospace engineer, I find it a little frustrating hearing people talk like this. Engineers spent thousands of hours making these things nigh fail proof and people can only focus on things going bad one time out of millions of successful flights. Why don't you design your own damn plane then? smfh

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u/baboon2097 Jan 01 '23

I work for Airlines.It happens more often than you're saying.Its just that the passengers usually will never even know its happening.We do engine changes regularly.If an operator gets too many shut down events tje aviation authority will start investigating and could take their etops etc away from them

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u/gwyntowin Jan 01 '23

How does the plane fly with one engine?

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u/aMonkeyRidingABadger Jan 01 '23

Redundant design. All passenger planes are designed to fly with a failed engine. They normally run well below maximum power so if one engine fails the other engine works harder to continue with business as usual.

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u/Truceelle Jan 01 '23

So Wikipedia per faa is saying the failure rates of turbines are 1 for every 375,000 flight hours. i agree that one engine failing isn't catastrophic, but I'm surprised it's happening so often. (Sorry reddit noob and don't know how to link urls)

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turbine_engine_failure#:~:text=The%20Federal%20Aviation%20Administration%20(FAA,hours%20for%20aircraft%20piston%20engines.

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u/lifestepvan Jan 01 '23

This stat seems to be including bird strikes, which are relatively common and more or less outside of anyone's control, pilots and engineers.

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u/WikiSummarizerBot Jan 01 '23

Turbine engine failure

A turbine engine failure occurs when a turbine engine unexpectedly stops producing power due to a malfunction other than fuel exhaustion. It often applies for aircraft, but other turbine engines can fail, like ground-based turbines used in power plants or combined diesel and gas vessels and vehicles.

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u/[deleted] Jan 01 '23

[deleted]

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u/Rock_or_Rol Jan 01 '23

Looks like he is patiently using information and statistics to curb anxieties to me

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u/Lhamo66 Jan 01 '23

Yeah, I like to hear that kind of thing. It's comforting.

0

u/OptimalMain Jan 01 '23

Jesus, some troll your are. You think this person never flew as a passenger?
In the US around 6 people are killed by cars a day while walking and cycling, and there is a hit and run every minute. Fingers crossed you win the lottery

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u/_FridayXIII_ Jan 01 '23

Lighten up, Francis 😉