The Engines.
I was very interested to see the images of the torn down engines in the Engine Group Report. Clearly these donks had suffered tremendous insult and yet, though they collapsed into an 'idle but not' state where they were neither use nor ornament, they didn't, in fact, stop?
From the point of view of an engineer - non aero - I have always regarded modern high bypass fan jets as the most beautiful example of almost effortless power. At the same time they are - compared to the fabulously intricate and fragile, double row radials of the 'Connie', DC-6 and Stratocruiser - practically bomb proof.
Having said that, looking at three instances of multi engine failure - all of them 100% survived - what is striking is the extreme 'gradient' of what was necessary to stop both/all the engines. I suppose we could regard 'Sully's' engines as the far end of mechanical trauma; a number (more than one each?) quite large birds ingested while the engines were at high stress.
Somewhere midpoint is the fantastic amount of terminal damage suffered by the RB211s of the BA 747 over Jakarta, after swallowing a volcano. The even more striking thing about those engines was; the crew got them started again. I don't suppose for a second that they ever flew again?
Finally, there is the BA038 rollback. Although the final results are not yet in - as I understand it - all it took was a peculiar conjunction of circumstances and water, that prevented those engines responding to an urgent requirement for power.
Sorry for the diversion, but those photgraphs do give one furiously to think. By the way, I take it that the reason why both engines lost their AGBs and associated 'peripherals', is because that is right underneath the engine and likely to be the first thing to get swept away?
Roger.