on X-Plane. Take up an A300, fail one engine (but it's still attached), and it still flies and can even still turn and climb (a bit). Coming in to land is tricky due to assymetric thrust, but by no means impossible.

If the engine actually separates, OTOH, you have a great heavy weight on one wing (~5-10 tons at 26' out on the A300) and nothing on the other. No way can the control surfaces counteract that, so the plane just flipped over and nosedived. Eye-witness reports available through the news mirror precisely what I would expect.

Unfortunately, X-Plane doesn't let me move the CoG off the centreline, so I was unable to simulate the effects of the dropped engine rigourously. However, the effect is roughly equivalent to the CoG of the ~150 ton aircraft instantaneously moving about 1'3" to one side.