TD Racer - until a few weeks ago I would have agreed with you, but then I listened to Captain Behnam talking to Juan Browne about his FBO on UA1175. Captain Behnam said that the failure happened at 200 nautical miles from Honolulu - if it was 300 the 777 would have landed in the ocean because with all the drag due to the missing parts, he was not able to maintain ANY altitude. He was able, with full power on the left engine, to reduce his rate of descent so he could make it to Honolulu. He talked of 5 stars aligning making it possible for the flight to finish like it did. One was distance - 200 miles - if it was 300 he wouldn't have made it. He had taken a lavatory break 3 minutes prior to the incident in preparation for the descent and had just got seated and lap belt secured. They had a qualified FO jump seater as the plane was full - the extra person able to handle tasks so the crew could struggle to keep the plane in the air was kind of a miracle. There was a dent in the fuselage with materials identified as coming from a fan blade - a few inches difference and it could have taken out a window with resultant decompression. And I can't remember the 5th. Listening to his nearly 1 hour narrative with Juan Browne was enlightening, and frightening.