Originally Posted by ESflyer
My friend's brother who flew for United refused to fly a two engine plane to Europe. Said that there are points in the flight where, if you lose one engine, you won't make it.
That's really just not right. That's why two-engine planes have ETOPS restrictions. These are designed so, in case of engine failure, the a/c is always within range of an appropriate field.
I think a scarier proposition is flying a route like LAX-SYD or LAX-AKL, which is not possible on ETOPS. There are points, where if 1 of the 4 engines goes out on the 747 that run these routes, you'll have a tough time making it to an appropriate landing strip. Once you've passed the Hawaiian archipelago and head southwest there is very little of any landfall till Polynesia.