tail strike and go around...
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When you are practicing soft field (grass) takeoffs a tail strike is always a possibility.
The idea is that you want the weight off the front wheel as soon as possible so it doesn't bog down in the mud or grass. So as soon as you push in the throttle, slowly, you pull the wheel all the way back to get the nose up. Then as you pick up speed you get more lift and you gradually push the nose down.
It becomes a balancing act. Push the nose down to soon and you can bog down in the grass. Keep the nose up too much and you can get a tail strike. If you do it right you might go a couple hundred feet with only the nose wheel off the ground.
Students are uncomfortable pushing or pulling the controls to their fullest extent. But at slow speeds you have to really push them to the stops.
Four times I have been in a plane when a tail-strike happened. All 4 times an instructor was at the controls, one of them was me. Instructors have learned to not be afraid to push or pull the stick all the way.
None of the 4 caused any big damage. And it can be a glancing blow, you may not know if you really hit until you land. That BA strike wasn't too bad, I bet the pilot of that flight asked the other pilot, "Did we just have a tail strike?".
If it is no big deal, why do I remember all 4? Because it is embarrassing.
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@copper said in tail strike and go around...:
If it is no big deal, why do I remember all 4? Because it is embarrassing.
A guy I used to work with (he was an idiot on many levels) had a prop strike, bounced, and didn't have enough speed to get back in the air. Ahead of him was a large grove of trees. His thoughts at that moment?
"I'm gonna be on the news!"
He actually did have enough speed to climb out and go around. He said it was "shaky."
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Been in a 707 that did something a bit similar...broke several of the overhead bin doors, the masks fell down, luggage littered the aisles and crap was flying everywhere.
Was not fun.
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@bachophile said in tail strike and go around...:
one for copper,
last week this BA airbus at heathrow caught in some crosswinds...
Link to videoI'm curious if they film all commercial take offs and landings for the record?
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@Catseye3 said in tail strike and go around...:
This is all so reassuring.
Mrs. GEorge will not fly.
Not gonna show these videos to her.
I made the mistake of showing her cross-wind landings at Hong Kong. Mistake is an understatement.
"Now look here, you Baltic gas passer... " - Mik, 6/14/08
The saying, "Lite is just one damn thing after another," is a gross understatement. The damn things overlap.
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@Ivorythumper said in tail strike and go around...:
I'm curious if they film all commercial take offs and landings for the record?
I don't think they do. I might be wrong.
It sounds to me like something the pilot's union wouldn't like, but I'm not sure.
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@George-K said in tail strike and go around...:
@Catseye3 said in tail strike and go around...:
This is all so reassuring.
Mrs. GEorge will not fly.
Not gonna show these videos to her.
I made the mistake of showing her cross-wind landings at Hong Kong. Mistake is an understatement.
The old Kai Tek airport in HK was quite interesting. The landing was so close to apartment buildings, it seemed I could look out the plane window and see what people were cooking! 555
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@bachophile said in tail strike and go around...:
Minneapolis St Paul airport today
I wonder which plane that was. I fly delta all the time (well, about 6-10 times a year) out of MSP.
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DL2289 on 24 APR 2022 from DCA to MSP
N301DU Airbus A220
My mistake in saying “today”
It was last week
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Wow! My very last flight (on April 14) was on that plane. I also flew it in July, August, and December last year.
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@bachophile interesting, I figured the callsign was the same thing as the airplane itself.
