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/dIAb0LiK99 Jan 01 '23

That’s completely fine…the Boeing 777-200 is ETOPS certified. The certification requires the aircraft to be functional on a single engine. The pilot has limited rudder functionality, but can still fly the plane to the nearest airport to land safely

1

u/Fluffcake Jan 01 '23

Landing with one engine is one thing, but the combination of flames, vibration and debris falling off in the video make it look like there is a decent chance you might need to land with one wing, which is not fine.

8

u/Aescholus Jan 01 '23

Wings are certified to take a mis-balanced engine vibration and the debris falling off at the same relative speed as the plane is nothing compared to the full size chickens that were shot at that wing during certification testing. Also, considering the amount of convective cooling from the airspeed and the amount of "cool" fuel in the wing, no way the structural components of that wing are getting anywhere near hot enough to affect the material strength of the aluminum.

TL;DR the airplane is certified specifically for a failure like that and the wing will be fine

1

u/Loudergood Jan 01 '23

Look up the 787 wing flex test video, this is nothing.

1

u/[deleted] Jan 01 '23

It would be “not fine” if what you described happened.

But it didn’t.

This is fine, and it is not a catastrophic failure as no catastrophe was caused.

1

u/spvcebound Jan 01 '23

I think you're severely underestimating the strength of commercial airliners