The engine DID fail. It spit fire out the back. Shutting down the engine was to remove the fire source.
Having had a few compressor stalls myself, it IS serious. (And compressor stalls have fire shoot out the front as well as the back).
There is no such thing as a "simple compressor stall." After a compressor stall you have no idea what damage has been done or if it had thrown a blade or not. You simply don't know.
Compressor stalls cause significant damage, and it could have been from bird ingestion to material failure. . .you have no idea. What you do know is damage was done and you have no idea what other damage might have been done as well.
The prudent thing is to abort and land.
It is a good thing you do not fly. . .but then again, if you did, and if you ever experienced a compressor stall or loss of an engine during a critical part of flight, you would have a whole different perspective.
Fact is, the pilots made the wrong decision. Period.
I've read your posts and your profile and am the first to admit that you are one of the most knowledgeable here about aviation. So when I find myself on the opposite side of this story from you, I am prepared to admit I'm wrong. However, I am hoping you would help me understand what the pilot might have been dealing with.
The assumption is that the B747 captain should have landed asap. But if the plane was carrying a full load of fuel, wouldn't it have been too heavy to land safely? If so, how long would it have taken to dump enough fuel to get down to max. landing weight?
I agree that there was damage, maybe beyond that one engine, but if the a/c was indicating that there were no other troubles and you're too heavy to land immediately, why not continue on, monitoring the situation with one eye and keeping alternate in mind with the other? From what others have said, that is what the FAA regs and the POH recommend.
I'm not trying to pick a fight, but there has been so much emotional reaction from others on this topic I was hoping that you might help me and perhaps others to see the incident more clearly.