Actually, if engines fail at altitude there's much lower risk than you'd think. Even in the case where the damn engines fall off the plane (yes, this really did

Actually, if engines fail at altitude there's much lower risk than you'd think. Even in the case where the damn engines fall off the plane (yes, this really did happen), there's surprisingly few if any fatalities. Complete engine failure is mostly risky in two situations, over water and low altitude. Ask Sully about having both happen at once and still no deaths! (Edit to add sources) Commercial flights with engine failures in the past 30 years w/o fatalities: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Airways_Flight_9 https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Airways_Flight_9 https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_Transat_Flight_236 https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_Transat_Flight_236 https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastern_Air_Lines_Flight_855 https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastern_Air_Lines_Flight_855 https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gimli_Glider https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gimli_Glider https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hapag-Lloyd_Flight_3378 https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hapag-Lloyd_Flight_3378 https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scandinavian_Airlines_Flight_751 https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scandinavian_Airlines_Flight... https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/US_Airways_Flight_1549 https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/US_Airways_Flight_1549 Commercial flights with engine failures and fatalities (one fatality, a flight attendant): https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garuda_Indonesia_Flight_421 https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garuda_Indonesia_Flight_421