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Originally Posted by shakran
Actually that's a plane on 3 engines, having lost one, not the other way around.
A 747 can fly on 3 engines. It can even glide for awhile, IC3, which means if it breaks down it's not necessarilly going straight into the ground. There are programs out there that will get you over your fear of flying that you might want to consider. The media makes a big deal out of airplane crashes precisely because they're so rare - if they were an everyday thing like car wrecks, you wouldn't see 'em on TV that much.
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It can actually fly on one engine. But using any less than 4 puts a lot of stress on the control surfaces. It's also consuming TONS more fuel. The only worry they really needed to factor in was enough fuel to make it to the destination which they can do onboard in 2 seconds. If they had stopped for maintenance they would have lost hundreds of custumers and paid a hefty fine. With the current financial state of airlines they can't afford losses like that.