[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 ?

[ColdWater]

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

It's in the article.

[_Jim]

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

I remember this; the discussion on pprune.org website said they budget thrust for weight and other environmental conditions.

[Big Giant Head]

No as mentioned in the article, a aircraft will if able, use a reduced thrust takeoff to save the engines, noise, and wear and tear. If his calculations had been accurate at 100 tons less, it would have been an appropriate power setting.

[ml/nj]

I thought take off runs are done at full thrust.

Little guys go full throttle. Big guys don't. I've seen fighters kick in their afterburners after lifting off a runway. (They go straight up! The change in pitch is pretty impressive. I also saw this once about 3000 feet AGL. I couldn't see the change in pitch then but the f***ers went by me in just a few seconds; also quite impressive, and a bit scary.) I think if they did that while they were on the ground, they might melt the runway.

ML/NJ