Originally Posted by Wolf359
Speaking of engines blowing out, Astro14 have you heard it?
I used to work at a power plant and one of the combustion turbines had a blade break off and that basically took out the entire turbine. They said the whole town a few miles away heard it when it went.
As for the carrier, good description. Aren't there some airports that are at high altitude and maybe in theory if you went over the cliff, you'd have enough altitude to get the engines started before you hit the ground?
So, if by engines blowing out, you mean compressor stalls, sure. Lots of times. Read my F-14 thread. The compressor section in a jet engine is basically a set of little wings that move air. Just like wings, those blades can stall - and the airflow stops moving through the compressor evenly and smoothly. That causes the whole engine to stop running. In fighters, it happens when pilots slam the throttles (for tactical/maneuvering reasons) or are at high AOA, or the engine ingests missile exhaust gas.
To restore normal air flow and get the engine running again, you either have to bring the power back to idle, or shut the engine off. Either method reduces the amount of fuel injected into the combustion section, to reduce pressure there, so that normal air flow can take place.
Compressor stalls happen on commercial airplanes, but are quite uncommon. The engine will "bang" and you may see flames coming out the front end (that's not good) as the pressure in the combustion section escapes out both ends because the compressor isn't forcing air to flow through as it should. Again, idle, or off, usually restores normal flow. Sometimes you'll get a compressor stall that's due to a mechanical failure in the engine, in which case, you won't get a good running engine again.
I'll add that it's not uncommon to see "smoke" from a jet engine during start. It's not "smoke" at all, but unburned kerosene vapor. It can take several seconds between the introduction of fuel into the engine and the ignition of that fuel, so, during that period, you'll see the vapor of unburned jet fuel coming out the back. If it's a really long time between fuel and ignition, you can get an "engine torch" which is a flame coming from the back. Looks scary, but since the engine runs on fire, this is just a fire that's a bit out of its normal area. The risk with a torch is that the start is usually a hot one, that is, the EGT is going to exceed limits, because, well, there's a bunch of extra fuel in there with a slow ignition or with a fuel control malfunction.
However, to a flight attendant, who doesn't remember the words "engine torch" from training, it might look like the airplane is on fire. Might look like that to a passenger, too, so while it's not a big deal (unless you overtemp the engine, in which case, you're going back to the gate) mechanically, the ensuing panic in the back can, and has in the past, caused problems as passengers try to escape the "fire"...opening doors, inflating slides, getting hurt, running around on the ramp with moving airplanes and jet engines capable of sucking them up and killing them...a real mess...
For power plant turbine failures, you should ask Shannow. He posted some pictures up a few years ago. Several tons of high-RPM mass can create spectacular damage. I'm reticent to even discuss it because he's the expert and that last thread was an epic BITOG devolution/spiral into pointless argument as Shannow and I tried to teach physics...
Here it is:
https://www.bobistheoilguy.com/forums/ubbthreads.php/topics/2217857/1
The "starting the engines after flying off a cliff" works well in James Bond movies, perhaps, but there are so many variables involved, it's hard to say that you could. A piston engine airplane might get enough windmill RPM to start up, and it takes only a second or so from start to full power in a piston, so, your odds might be better with that than with a jet. Courchevel, France comes to mind as a place where you could roll down the runway, fly off the end, and might have enough altitude to get it going...