Originally Posted by
kwateow
Maybe this is too early, but when all the facts are known I hope someone will study whether:
To be really honest, when this much of an engine lets go survivability is always going to be largely down to luck. You can try and move critical stuff out of the likely firing line, but wiring and plumbing have to run down the fuselage and wing and cross that line at some point. Also difficult to see how you can get the wing, including fuel tanks and leading-edge, out of the likely impact zone, without moving the engines to the tail (where uncontained failure is also known to be fatal...).
1) An A330, with similar engine size and destructive potential, would have survived the wing box hit (thinner spars I presume). And...
Can't do you an A330, but this is the results on a 767:
the HPT stage 1 disk was found in four pieces that were recovered from the left engine's pylon, the belly of the airplane, the right engine's exhaust duct, and from a vacant lot, which was approximately 2,600 feet away from the airplane, on the south side of the airport across runways 7L/25R and 7R/25L. Liberated debris from the left engine resulted in numerous holes in the fuselage as well as the left and right wings that had numerous holes in the fuel tanks from where fuel leaked that fed the fire that burned the left wing and left side of the fuselage aft of the wing.
Pictures: GE investigates cause of American Airlines Boeing 767-200 uncontained CF6-80A engine failure that led to aircraft fire-06/06/2006-Los Angeles-Flight International
It survived - but it was on the ground at the time. In the air ? I wouldn't like to bet on it. Note that bits damaged both the engine and wing
on the other side.
2) Same question for a 747-400 or 747-8i, probably built to 1970's certification standards concerning structural damage tolerance.
How about 747-200F, ie. El-Al, Amsterdam. Major engine (mounting) failure took out adjacent engine and hydraulics and damaged wing including slats - that last being fatal.