Can an empty 747-400 with minimal fuel take off on two engines?
Hmm... I guess this will come down to how much of the drag is induced drag vs. how much is form drag. The induced drag will obviously be much less, but the form drag will not be much less than flying at the same airspeed at MTOW.

Given the requirement that it must be capable of continuing a takeoff and climbing out at MTOW on 3 engines, though, I'd be very surprised if it weren't capable of doing so at 42% MTOW on 2 engines.

For the most convincing argument in favor of 'yes' I can think of off hand, there's this. GE flew a 747 on one engine. Granted, that engine happened to be a GE90-115b, the world's most powerful commercial jet engine, which is used on the 777-300ER. However, the GE90-115b is rated at 'only' 115,300 lb. of thrust, while a pair of PW 4062s on a 747-400ERF would produce a total of 126,600 lb. GE's aircraft is a modified 747-100. Since Wikipedia lists its operating empty weight at 358,000 lb. and it was hopefully carrying some fuel in addition to that, its weight was likely not much different from the 386,000 lb. in your scenario. Additionally, in GE's case, some of the lift would have to be used to pull against the yawing moment created by flying with only the #2 engine producing thrust.

In light of this, I'd say that the answer is almost certainly, yes, it's possible. Advisable, of course, is a different matter entirely.


GE's Test Bed 747-100 with the GE90-115b mounted in place of its #2 engine. Source: Wikipedia