Morrissey,
I have a couple of questions:
1. The smoke and the noise happened simultaneously on takeoff or when would you say?
We were at a fair height when this noise happened, a large bang, vibration, and then a slight feeling of plunging down as the power came off the other three engines. Now I've said it was a puff of smoke comng out the back of the engine BUT, it could have been the large section of cowling falling off.
2. Did any passengers express concern over the delay to land?
The calm of the passengers was superb - my feeling is that everyone realised the serious nature of the fix we were in, there was nothing we could do and had to leave it to the professionals. The possible need to dump fuel and need to complete a large set of checklists was conveyed to everyone early on, with regular updates, and the scene was set that this would not be an instant process. Everyone realised this was a mechanical issue, and the guys that counted were now working hard to sort things out for us.
3. There have been pictures and discussion regarding a hole (or holes) in the wing. Did you get an opportunity to view this? If so could you describe, and express whether it was expanding over time?
By craning my neck I could see the holes in the wing (I was sitting in the mid 60's row wise) but did not concentrate on looking at them every few minutes to check the size. Everyone reacts to a situation like this in different ways - I tried to bury my head in a book.
I can confirm one of the flight deck crew came back and checked the situation out of the windows, he looked confident in what he was doing.
4. I don't know your experience, but would you describe the landing as power on, fast etc.?
Sitting two rows back from the emergency aisle one of the senior cabin staff came round and briefed the crew that it would be a fast landing. You could feel the landing gear coming down - this personally was my primary concern - but it sounded all wrong. There was almost a flapping sound and then a gap prior to the gear took an age to clunk into place. One of you more experienced guys can comment if we were sitting directly above the gear , all i can say was the floor was vibrating significantly below our feet, enough for me to lift my feet from the floor.
Once we were on the ground of course my secondary concern was stopping, and you could see this was becoming a problem and we were running a bit short of space, spoilers were bot coming up, tried reverse thrust, couple of bangs- not sure if we lost tyres or not.
Once we were on the ground we had an engine running they could not stop and fuel leaking onto the runway. At that point it's really the fire crews have a far better visual on what they have to deal with. At all times we were ready to evacuate, but bear in mind with an engine running it would have been out of one side of the aircraft. Better to keep us seated, let the situation be dealt with, always ready to evacuate if needed.
I'm being quite careful to only give you the facts based on my experience of events, not make suppositions based on any subsequent discussions. I've deliberately avoided hearing any TV news (though have seen the web and pictures mailed to me) or reading this thread in any detail to avoid any influence on my recollections.
Hope this answers your questions.