A few years back I was on a Delta flight from LAX to ATL on an old L-1011. And just as the flight was passing east over the CA/AZ border, the center engine experienced a compressor failure that caused the entire aircraft to shake violently. We dropped altitude and returned to make a safe emergency landing at LAX. So everything worked out OK.
The question I have is how could a pilot perform a pre-flight check of an engine that is located like the center engine of an L-1011 or an MD-11?