Imagine this: a large aircraft is forced to make an emergency landing at a very rudimentary airfield. “Whew!” Eventually, whatever interrupted the flight has been dealt with. However, attempt to get airborne was unsuccessful.
If at first you don’t succeed in getting your aircraft airborne before the end of the runway, what can you do to get back into the air?
Before reading any further, take out a very large piece of paper and make a list of all the things that they could do to get that aircraft on its way again.
S T O P !
(Do your assignment before doing any more reading)
They taxied all the way back to the threshold, made a quick as possible rolling turn, then tried again. Unfortunately, the momentum wasn’t sufficient to overcome the heavy aircraft’s inertia.
They waited for a stronger headwind to provide more lift. Nope!
Unloaded all passengers, especially the heavier ones, all the cargo, and any fuel that wouldn’t be necessary to complete the flight. Still no go.
There was no longer runway, so they removed trees and power lines from beyond the end of the runway.
Fired up some JATO bottles attached to the aircraft. They generated lots of smoke, fire and thrust, but still didn’t do the job. Aha! They tried to use the aircraft’s afterburner (known as ‘reheat’ in England). More smoke, more fire and a lot more thrust – but still on the ground at the end of the runway.
During WW II, some runways were created by laying steel mats on the soft ground to create a hard surface. It was tried in this situation. Still no lift-off.
Cold air is denser, provides more lift. The crew waited until the temperature plunged, but it did not make enough change. Hey! Since the ground was soggy, they even waited six months till it froze. Lift off? Nothing doing! They also waited and waited for an increase in barometric pressure. Still not enough of an increase in lift to get airborne!
They checked to see if the wheel chocks were still in place, or the tie-down cables were still attached. Nope.
If it had been a naval aircraft with folding wings, they might have had to un-fold the wings. Their Airbus 380’s wings didn’t fold.
Aircraft carriers head into the wind and go full speed ahead to launch their aircraft. Unfortunately, no nearby lake or boat was large enough to give that a try. However, a carrier’s catapult was set up to get the recalcitrant aircraft airborne. Didn’t work.
Nothing worked, so they gave up! They just placed the damn thing on a plinth, erected a historical plaque at the base and finished the trip by bus.
