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Minimum takeoff speed


jknoxville456
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I know it'll fly much slower than any charted speeds...:P

I want to say VMETO for 155K used to be under 100 (95 rings a bell, but it's been too long since I flew the old airspeed systems and used that tab data).

At least one Herk operator will hold the yoke back until the plane flies (usually in the mid-upper 70s) and then lowers the nose in ground effect. I know another Herk operator will routinely unstick them in the low-mid 80s at training weights...for training. ;) Vmca be damned. ;)

I once had a TOLD card that said, "EORPU" - when I queried the engineer he said, "End of Runway, Pull Up" !!

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I know it'll fly much slower than any charted speeds...:P

I want to say VMETO for 155K used to be under 100 (95 rings a bell, but it's been too long since I flew the old airspeed systems and used that tab data).

At least one Herk operator will hold the yoke back until the plane flies (usually in the mid-upper 70s) and then lowers the nose in ground effect. I know another Herk operator will routinely unstick them in the low-mid 80s at training weights...for training. ;) Vmca be damned. ;)

I once had a TOLD card that said, "EORPU" - when I queried the engineer he said, "End of Runway, Pull Up" !!

Always heard that about any aircraft built by Republic, e.g., F-105. Heard they built a compartment in the nose and filled it with dirt and gravel. When they opened it the bird thought that it was in the overrun and lifted off....

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I know it'll fly much slower than any charted speeds...:P

At least one Herk operator will hold the yoke back until the plane flies (usually in the mid-upper 70s) and then lowers the nose in ground effect. I know another Herk operator will routinely unstick them in the low-mid 80s at training weights...for training. ;) Vmca be damned. ;)

That sounds about right. Watching the wings on a Max-effort T/O, the wings lift in the upper 70s. By the time you get to 80, she's ready to get up and git! She's pretty much a Cessna on steroids.

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One thing I learned is that normal take-off speed does not work if the flaps are up! Learned that the hard way. Good thing we were taking off from Eielson AFB's long runway in Fairbanks in the winter, after sitting at the departure end for 3 hours with engines running and checklists all completed. Delay, delay, delay for re-frag during Brim Frost 85 and pilot had raised the flaps while we were sitting there.

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I can remember , vaguely, when we were doin' crash and dashes around the flag pole, on occasion, they would either do a no flap landing or a no flap take-off or both? Which was it???? I wouldthink a no flap take off would be somethin' you would want a hell of a bnch of runway ahead of ya, along with a tremendous head wind, and certainly not at max takeoff weight...........Somebody enlighten me..

Giz

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I've done a no-flap T/O...two IPs in the seats (imagine that)...thankfully on a big long runway...

100% T/O 3 times...first two as a CP, but last one as the IP...on a short strip w/trees at the end! (Grafenwhoer)

Every time, distraction was the reason....a whole front end getting distracted. Some extenuating circumstances on each of them, but no excuse for not getting checklists done. I use each of these as teaching points for the young bucks...

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but last one as the IP...on a short strip w/trees at the end! (Grafenwhoer)

Oh Graf, what a lovely strip.

3000X60 with huge trees on departure (thanks to the damn greenies). Standard TO brief was "if we lose an engine on TO we will try to put it back down to meet the trees on the ground instead of in the air".

When you did the data, there was NO three engine operations of any kind out of Graf.

From what I hear, when the 37th moved over to TAC er I mean ACC they had a royal cow and stopped work at Graf, at least for a time.

We did have a crew that took out the trees on takeoff (just after I DEROS'ed); they had some kind of power problem (didn't lose an engine, just a power problem) and drug the gear through the trees, I think it was something as simple as loss of a utility pump.

Worst part of Graf was I remember doing 63 touch and go's one sunny day - gak

Edited by Dan Wilson
kant spel
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One time at Ubon our Blind Bat crew was heading out on one of our early evening missions and us loadmaster/flarekickers were lounging around in the back with headsets on listening to the flight crew go through the checklist. Just when we were about to lift off, Chris, one of us peons in the back said "sir, shouldn't the flaps be down" ?

I heard an "oh shit" over the air and the flaps were activated and we made it over the trees with several feet to spare!! Nobody ever said a word about it all night and even after we returned to base 7 or 8 hours later.

Ken

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