Regarding punkalouver's comment that "Actually, I believe they did get mostly airborne...except the tail until it broke off."
If you read my earlier posting on this thread, you would find that aerial photos of the crash site had revealed that the 747's wheels made tracks in the grass all of the long way from the end of the runway to the berm. The wheels never lifted off the ground, irrespective of how many times the tail also touched the ground. To me, this equals "never airborne".