Thanks for your expert pilot analysis! This does seem to be the most evident scenario, especially as there was no visible sign of engine malfunction (flames, sound of compressor stall, shedding engine and cowling parts).
The sequence of pilot responses matches very closely the pilot’s response during the 1995 AWACS Yukla 27 bird-strike event:
http://flightsafety.org/ap/ap_nov96.pdf
Please allow me to make a personal request. Would you be so kind as to read and assess for technical accuracy my theory on my blog that the zone between V1 and VR, however long that may last on the runway, is a potential terrorist runway kill zone? I am a retired CPA, not a pilot.
It is my theory that the V1-VR zone needs to be proactively protected from attacks by GPS guided UAV/drones targeting individual turbines. The linear path down the runway and distance from the airframe centerline of each engine (and thus the distance from the runway centerline) can be reliably predicted using GPS coordinates.
All this is explained in detail at this blog post:
As I mentioned, the chief research officer of the Air Force thanked my for making him and presumably the Air Force aware of this vulnerability back in 2006, and he went out of his way to make sure that the Air Force One commander was aware as well.
Recently, it appears that terrorists may be trying to exploit a Landing Approach Kill Zone as discussed on my blog:
In case you missed it, here is the FR thread that I started do discuss drone at JFK which has some interesting discussion.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/bloggers/3014942/posts?q=1&;page=1#1
ping...