[fod]

thanks for the permission.

If someone were to post a graphic representation of the debris field, showing what ended up where, I'd be more confident about what did happen

I am going to say, due my experience, I'm sceptical that birdstrike(s) could cause that type of catastrophic failure to not only the motors, but also the airframe. Tails, wings, and motor mounts are constructed pretty robustly.

When there are aircraft crashes, the mjority of the plane stayts together until impact.

I can only recall a few that did not- O'Hare, when the motor mount failed, and a couple of bombed planes...

Not an authorative answer, by all means, but again, just color me sceptical

[bluecollarman]

When a turban fan comes loose, it can act just like Zena's frisbee weapon, it will slice through anything it comes in contact with. This is what happened in Pensacola. The fan section went through the engine housing and into the fuselage, then the passengers.

If it severes the tail section, the plane would becomes unstable and pitch, and roll violently. The wing section breaks off. I can see that happening. I do not think it was birds though. Maybe a sheet metal bucking bar or something like that. If it was birds, they will be able to tell that with no problem.

[185JHP]

The DC-10 O'Hare crash, which pretty much destroyed the market for DC-10s, involved a motor mount damaged when the airline corpoRATS violated the maintenance protocol - IIRC they put a jack under the engine while it was still atached to the wing and lifted it, damaging the mount. Engines don't usually fall off commercial airliners - although this thing involving the Airbus just lends credence to those who fly and say "If it ain't a Boeing, I ain't going!" FReegards