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It depends on what the characteristics of the transmission line are. If it is purely random, that is one thing, but often if one packet is dropped or smashed, there is a higher probability of following ones to meet the same fate. For example, if the transmission is over a microwave link, it is easy to see how something could cause a few thousand packets in a row to go missing.

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> if one packet is dropped or smashed, there is a higher probability of following ones to meet the same fate.

Not necessarily. I am not an expert on this topic, but I believe physical device failure is one of the least common reasons a packet is dropped (at least on physical cable transmission). I think link saturation, priority routing (for certain types of packets, or contractual reasons) might be more common. There are thousands of routers out there with a variety of different configurations that decide which packets go through under which conditions.

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