Widebody69 wrote:
Regarding the decision to return to LHR, I don't think you can discount that pilots weren't aware both engines were damaged. The incident happened on take-off, passenger reports wouldn't have made it to the cockpit and only the damage to 1 engine would have shown up in the cockpit. Single engine failure, return to origin.
Quite possibly this is the case. And even if the cabin crew at some point managed to inform the flightdeck that both engines had visible damage, the decision to turn back to Heathrow may have already been made. Hindsight is a wonderful thing, I guess we'll learn all the facts when the AAIB report is published.