Anyone remember that Eastern L1011 that lost all power going out from Barbados?? On climbout it lost 1 engine then as it turned around to return the other 2 progressively quit until the a/c was completely powerless. The crew managed to restart an engine(think it was the center one)at about 9,000ft and land.
On a tri-jet like a 727/L1011/DC-10 does the center engine provide as much thrust as the other 2? Read somewhere that in the 727 and L1011 the center engine provides only 85-90% as much thrust as the other 2 because of the S-Duct arrangement and the loss of airflow involved. If this is the case then wouldn't it be preferable if you had to lose an engine to lose the number 2??