Hi Y'all,

The term "catastrophic" is a common aviation term referring to the type of engine failure. It means the failure was immediate (ie: a seizure) and due to/or caused physical damage to the engine versus a failure where the engine simply stopped running. The term in no way implies any direct serious threat to the aircraft or its occupants.

As mentioned by BearX220, turbine engines are designed to break away from an aircraft versus staying attached and shaking the @#@$ out of the wings/fuselage (and the passenger's pants). Turbines spin at 50,000+ RPMs (educated guess, not fact) so being off balance by the least little bit can cause quite a shake-up.

As mentioned by others, there have been instances of engine failures (I think "break-up" would better describe the condition) causing serious damage/fatalities. Both UA at Sioux City and DL at Pensacola involved engines where turbine fan blades and/or the "hub" that holds them, literally broke apart and "slung off" blades at an extremely high velocity. This is extremely rare.

A frozen bearing may cause an engine to suddenly seize ("catastrophic failure"), and is no minor deal. It may cause a few tense moments in the cockpit depending on when the failure occurred (possible worst case being right at "rotation" on the take-off roll) but pilots are trained to handle these things (they go back to the simulator to practice it every 6 months !!). But the situation is not as grave as the term would imply.

Steve