The extent of the damage became clear from a camera mounted on the plane’s tail, which showed a gush of liquid  most likely a mix of fuel and hydraulic fluid  streaming from underneath the left wing.

As the plane lost fuel, its center of gravity began to shift, potentially threatening its stability. But damage to fuel and hydraulic lines made it difficult for the crew to transfer fuel to other tanks.

The report said the crew faced so many alerts that it took nearly an hour to respond to them before they could begin coordinating plans for landing with air traffic controllers. During that time, the plane circled in a holding pattern close to the airport with the autopilot engaged.

In fact, the number of warnings was such that the plane’s computers could not initially make an accurate calculation of whether the jet  still laden with fuel and 50 tons over its maximum landing weight  would be able to slow itself enough on landing to avoid overshooting the end of the runway.

In the end, the pilots  who had a combined 72,000 hours of flight experience  removed some variables from the landing calculations. The computer indicated that a safe landing would be possible, but the pilots instructed flight attendants to prepare for an emergency evacuation if the plane ended up in the water beyond the runway’s end.

The crew knew the landing would be complicated. Because of the engine explosion, the pilots were unsure about the integrity of the fuel system, so they did not transfer fuel from one tank to another, a normal practice on a big airplane to keep it in balance as fuel is burned. As a result, they knew that the nose would tend to pitch up on touchdown, and that they could not apply maximum braking pressure until the nosewheel was on the runway.