Nick
Yes, it can be done, but the engines on most, if not all airliners nowadays will cause drag as they touch the water, and a break up is more likely to happen than not. Of course, there's always one that debunks the theory, and the Hudson river landing is one that springs to mind. However, that was an A320 series, with much smaller engine pods. A Nimord (about 737/A320 size) was ditched off the Scottish coast a few years ago, but that had the engines in the wing roots, and the result was a good landing with very little debris.
The engine pods on a 777 are massive. A good example of the more expected result is the Ethiopian Boeing 767 that was hijacked and the pilot was forced to fly to Australia, irrespective of the fact it didn't have enough fuel. It ended badly for a fair proportion of the passengers, and left a lot of bits.
Pete, there's a lot of floaty bits in an aircraft, more so if it's broken up. Even parts of the structure will float, but there's also seat cushions, baggage coats etc. They wont know where the "black boxes" are until they find the back end.
Byker
Apology excepted.
Interesting wikapiedia article about the EI flight. Not sure I would put a great deal of weight on that though. Like all these theories, too many people would have to keep their mouths shut for a cover up to be realistic. Also, missiles are made of different metals to planes. The Irish Accident Investigations people are very good, I'm sure they would have noticed.
Sorry, to add to that, just noticed it happened on a Sunday, which is the best evidence there is it wasn't a missile from a British Defence site. The Forces are effectively Monday to Friday, with a few exceptions, and always have been apart from when we are at war, even if it was a full Military site that would be the case, but as the majority of test site staff are civvies, again always have been, it's even less likely.
