I live in New Jersey and I can vouch that the French pilots landed at Atlantic city and they were’nt denied landing at McGuire. They had a fun night at the local casinos where they walked around in their flight suits, since they had no change of clothes! One pilot told the reporters that some of the people in the casino thought they were astronauts! They all seemed in good spirits and the next day they were refueled and departed for the carrier. The local F-16 reserve unit helped them out as well.
TTP

Also another consideration from a pilot’s perspective is, If you have to shut one down, perform the applicable emergency checklists and land. NOBODY WILL QUESTION your judgement!!!! If you decide to continue as the BA crew did, evrybody will question your decision, especially if later on in the flight some other incident occurs. Your license and career will be HUNG OUT TO DRY and nobody will defend you!!
Trust me, when the BA crew landed, I guarantee you that the crew wasn’t given Air Medals or bonuses for getting the pax there on time, so as a Captain you have to weigh the worst case scenarios and act accordingly.
I have this happen quite a bit as an Air Force reservist, We can get so caught up in a training mission that one tends to take unecessary risks to achieve mission sucess, but short of an actual war, the risks in a training environment are never worth the consequences of a potentially career or life ending incident! Look at the B-52 pilot who crashed the Buff in that famous video, He was practicing for a Airshow!!! was it worth putting a 50 year old Heavy Bomber through metal bending manuevers to impress a few thousand Airshow attendees? not to mention losing his life as well as the other crewmembers!

Its interesting to note that all the pilots on this site agreed that the BA flight should not have continued, yet all the enthusiasts are spouting rather scientific reasons why its perfectly fine to operate on three engines! Heres my opinion (Air Force Pilot/Commercial 727/DC-8)
You have lost an engine, so you shut it down, The fan is still windmilling out in the nacelle as you streak through the skies at 400 knots. First question you ask, whats going to lubricate that rotating mass of metal? Hopefully your oil system, but if the engine was shut down for low oil pressure, perhaps due to a small oil leak, after a few hours what will be left to lubricate a heavy mass of spinning metal filled with deadly sharpened fan blades rotating at 1000s RPM? ( I had this happen to me).
Now take into consideration your flying slower , more drag due to rudder displacement, and your fuel burn is higher for the above reasons, so all your fuel computations are thrown out the window! you have to recompute divert alternates, check weather at each one, etc etc,
Have you considered now what you would do if you lose another in this situation? a good Captain should,
Bottom line If you lose an engine its considered an emergency, land at a suitable airport in a suitable time!
Take Care,
TTP

Don’t forget the new Steven Udvar Haazy Center at Dulles Airport, its actually a new wing of the NASM. I believe there is a shuttle bus to take you from one to the other, but either way its a must see, so set aside 2 days for Washington DC!

whiskey Delta,

Your right, I’m not a DC-9 driver, but I assure all of you, when the jet is on the ground one of the hydraulic systems are shut off so the corresponding elevator droops until the system is pressurized.
Helican, Your statements are way off the mark! Passenger Jets are not toys that streamline their flight controls as they gain speed, they are all hydraulically actuated.
On the 727 only one of 3 hydraulic systems are activated on the ground while onloading or boarding pax, so you will notice the leading edge slats are drooped down, much like the DC-9 elevator, as soon as the other Hydraulic systems are activated everything goes back into a normal state.
TTP

Lbarules,

I know, just having some fun!
TTP

Great pic! Just one question concerning the authenticity of it.

How were you able to take a picture of all those Airbus’s with the tails still attached?

Whiskey Delta,

The sim pic may be a wind shear demo. I know from past experience the wind shear scenario’s usually get that box rockin and a rolling!!
TTP