Why did the Swiss International Air LX40 (a 777-300ER) emergency land at Iqaluit airport?
Given that the 777-300ER could have easily flown the remainder to LA with one engine -- which means it could have easily diverted to a nearby larger airport -- why didn't it?


Standard operating procedure for engine failure on a twin calls for emergency and landing as soon as possible. That was their closest diversion point at the time, so there they landed.

This is an instance of a more general rule that whenever all redundancy on a critical system is lost, it warrants an emergency and requires landing at nearest suitable airport. Continuing the flight on one engine would most likely considered reckless operation.

Regarding your suggested alternate, “somewhere larger like Nuuk” is definitely not true. Nuuk has runway of mere 3,117 ft, far too short for a 777. The 8,605 ft at Iqaluit is adequate, and it is the standard diversion airport for this area.

Plus it was at least 300 nmi further. You are not risking that when your gliding distance from FL360 is ~120 nmi (and there is no way one engine can keep you up in FL360, so it's more like FL300 and ~90 nmi) and you really can't be sure the problem that killed the one engine is not going to affect the other too.

Also, regarding the complicated repairs, there is no better place nearby. It is just as cold in the whole region and there are no heated hangars where a 777 would fit, so they needed the tent to provide reasonable working environment around the engine in the cold weather and would need it in any other airport in the region. That's why they have it.