Those who wish to hold forth on the recent incident with the BA 747 that
lost an engine (twice) and continued to its destination might want to
check this out:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/s...toryId=4526930

"NPR's Alex Chadwick talks to British Airways official Steve Sheterline
about a recent incident on one of their long-haul flights. A 747
recently continued on its Los Angeles-to-England flight despite losing
one of its engines shortly after takeoff. A few days later, the same
plane had another engine failure coming out of Singapore, and the pilot
again choose to continue the flight. Some suspect the incidents are the
result of new European rules that punish airlines for delayed or
canceled flights."

Bottom line (according to Sheterline): The POH for the 747 requires four
engines for takoff, but only three for cruise.

rg