It will still be interesting to some whatever the outcome of this event is.Like I have said in a previous post lets hope we ALL learn from this incident/accident. Aviation is a breeding ground for incidents/accidents it's also a ground for learning.
Whatever the reason as to why this crew found themselves with no options but to ditch the one deciding factor that I always based my decisions on in similar missions was SE flight or Depress flight, both scenarios will take you straight to the bottom of the Pacific if it happened with no Alt's quicker than other poor decision. On missions where range was critical the effective range of any light jet such as the Westwind Etc was based on what you could expect with an engine out or an unpressurized cabin. Obviously both situations would mean a much lower crz Alt & therefore lower TAS & with a fuel flow somewhere similar too two engine burn at Alt. where the Tas was higher & range further.
An Eg. A Std LR35 would consume around 1100 lbs (better in LRC) at high crz Alt under ISA cond's with say 470 kts TAS giving an effective range of around (assuming nil wind for calc purposes only) 2100 NM with basic reserves. Add in an eng failure with a crz Alt of 25K (max for airframe type if I recall) the FF would be somewhere around 1400 lbs per hr on 1 donk (LRC was avail on one donk with less FF but TAS was even less meaning extended exposure to further problems over water) & remembering getting a TAS of 300 kts meansyou get say 1000+ Nm's............you go figure it out! That's why I NEVER planned such a mission unless I had a SE/Depress out option on long over water Pacific hops.
They all walked away (swam) that's the good news here, the rest we wait & learn
Wmk2