Originally Posted by barit1
On approach, engines are at such low power it's very unlikely they'll quit -- if they have fuel.
If all the engines quit, the plane will land itself.
Guaranteed.
This in no way rules out ingesting a flock of fat geese into the engines (multiple birdstrike risk on landing should be the same as on takeoff, or higher if the plane does not make as much noise and the birds do not hear it and realize they should duck). Are engines resistant to birds when running at low power?
Also, if an engine quits on runway, the plane has a precisely known initial height and alignment. If the engine quits on climb, there is a wide takeoff chimney ahead. Whereas a landing plane must wind up reaching a precisely known direction, line, region of runway and groundspeed. So, an engine failure on approach might lead to a missed approach... With all engines quitting, the plane can miss landing in any direction (touch down before runway, touch down late and overrun, run off the side of runway, touch down beside the runway...). It was recently reminded that even planes with all engines functional are not certified to reject takeoff in the low-energy landing configuration (flaps and landing gear out) but are committed to land. Whereas planes taking off are supposed to accelerate with one engine out, gear down, high-lift deployed...
So, can planes go around with one engine out?