[devane617]

I bet someone got a spanking.

[Bahbah]

Whoa, Nellie!

[naturalman1975]

The plane was making a reduced-power take-off, which means it was not taking off at full thrust, a common practice among airlines to save fuel, wear and tear and to reduce noise.

At 49 seconds past 10.30pm the Emirates plane began its roll to the south down the illuminated 3657m runway. In the tower, air traffic controllers became alarmed by the plane's slow speed as it neared the take-off point, but cockpit recordings suggest the pilots did not notice anything wrong.

Yet the crew's actions in the next 11 seconds would save the lives of all those on board.

As the plane roared towards the end of the runway the first officer moved his sidestick to rotate, or lift, the plane's front wheel.

When it did not respond, the captain yelled "rotate" again, and the first officer pulled it at a steeper angle.

Three seconds later the front wheel lifted, but the rest of the plane remained glued to the tarmac. At the same time there was a thump as the plane's tail hit the runway, sending showers of sparks into the night.

For six terrifying seconds the Airbus hung suspended, half up, half down, as it gobbled up what remained of the runway. "I knew we couldn't stop," the captain said later. "At that point I knew we just had to go. I thought I was going to die, it was that close."

The tail of the Airbus hit the tarmac twice more and had reached the end of the sealed runway when the captain took over the controls and threw the engines into full thrust using a rapid acceleration procedure known as TOGA (take-off go-around). For another four seconds the plane still refused to fly. It had now run out of sealed runway and was roaring across the grass leading to the airport perimeter fence, hitting its tail twice more on the grass.

At the last possible moment, the whole plane left the ground, clipping a strobe light and flattening a navigation antenna, before clearing the 2.4m airport perimeter fence and thundering low over the roofs of suburban houses.

[RichInOC]

A hundred tons?

Math FAIL.

When you and your partners get back to the office at the end of your work day and your supervisors hand you letters of resignation...that’s never good.

[libh8er]

The tail of the plane hit the runway five times before the captain ordered full thrust at the last minute

I thought take off runs are done at full thrust. Or am I wrong ?

[MrPiper]

I don’t think the pilot calculates the weight, It should be a done by a loadmaster. Different job.

[shield]

Wonder what nationality that pilot is...if it’s the nationality I think it is...that’s one of those NO SURPRISE...

[Quix]

Is that evidence that the . . . uhhh . . .

camel, goat, little boy

uhhh . . . jockeys

. . . uhhhh . . . need more . . . training . . . in modern technology?

/s