i was there and it wasn't good
as a passenger on this flight i can tell you that most of the passengers were extremely alarmed by what happened as we could all see the flames coming from the engine.
The plane went along on the rear wheels for ages before we actually took off and we only just made if off the ground before the end of the runway. Then the flames, banging and shaking started We then cruised around the pacific for about 30 or 45 minutes at 5000FT and about 300MPH in a big circle just outside LAX whilst they decided what to do. Every so often another big bang or shake came along to keep us awake. The pilot took about 15 minutes before he told anybody what had happened and then said that we may have noticed a few sparks out of the engine !
The stewards told us that we would be landing and that they were dumping fuel - To say that people were unhappy when they decided to head home would be an understatement !
I understand that to a pilot this all might make sense but the feelings of the passenegers should have been considered and we were all sh*tting ourselves. The diversion to manchester due to low fuel was the icing on the cake.
I'm flying on Virgin next time !