Originally Posted by stagger
An additional factor to consider is that, all else being equal, a 747 on 3 engines is 50% more likely to have an engine failure than an twin (since it has 50% more engines operating - 3 vs 2).
Consequently while the performance of a 747 on 2 may not be a lot worse than an twin on 1 - the 747 is 50% more likely to end up on 2 (when it is starting with 3) than the twin aircraft is to end up on 1.
This is getting rather silly.
Firstly,
Stagger, a 747 does not
start with 3 engines.
Secondly, if what you seem to be trying to argue were to be correct, then a 747 would be more likely to experience two engine failures on a flight than a twin jet would be to experience one. Are you really saying that?
In other words, statistics would need to show more double-engine failures on 4-engined aircraft than single-engine failures on twins.
Not so, I think !
