Bird strikes generally do not cause engines to explode. The 777 engines in particular were specifically designed to be survive ingestion of frozen turkeys.
Yeah but I bet they don't test the engine by throwing the turkeys in while its actually flying. Could easily be bird strike broke a fan blade that damaged the outer cowlings enough that they broke off/apart due to airspeed. From what I understand these engines use a unique hollow fan blade; so it could also just be an early/unexpected failure.
I wonder why you would freeze the turkey before throwing it in. Surely their aren't frozen birds that size flying around. It's like shooting a man.. before throwing him out an airplane.
They froze the turkeys to make them easier to fire out of their pneumatic cannon at several hundred miles per hour. (I saw this on a documentary about the 777 on TV, and I can't find the clips on YouTube).
