Originally Posted by
gulfstream650
Another logical assumption emerged by a A320 pilot:
There was no issue of L/Gs, L/Gs were down during 1st attempt.
G/A was opted to avoid runway overshoot due to high altitude approach leading the acft to 4500 ft from threshold.
Now this is the catch:- Probably Flaps selection to position 3 from 4 and Gears Up selection was too early while engines still spooling up from approach Idle to TOGA,.
Too early retraction of Flaps caused loss of lift and acft sank while the Gears already retracted up and engines dragged along the runway 3 times( as witnessed on runway)
Have you seen the speeds in the above charts? At 220 kts there will be no sink if you pull that nice little handle on the side panel (not with flaps in 3,2,1, or clean). That's so much energy that you don't need the engines at that moment to gain altitude. It's a mere question of where you point your nose....
(At 220 kts that would be sufficient to gain >2000ft until down to 130kts, assuming a glide ratio of 8 - 10)
The only little catch hindering you from leaviong the runway again might be the nose down momentum from the drag of the pods scratching the tarmac being significantly below your cg. That is where the engines might help you getting unstuck again. But for preventing contact with Terra Firma you wouldn't have needed them in that situation.