Maximum thrust? What does that mean? I always assumed that aircraft would use 100% thrust at almost all times. Can anyone explain under what conditions would an aircraft not use maximum thrust during take off?
Ta muchly!
Dr Kev - jet aircraft takeoff with flexed (or de-rated) thrust on almost all occassions, so as not to inflict excessive wear and tear on the engine that could otherwise damage it, if used at maximum thrust all the time. Taking into account the weight of the aircraft, temperature and runway length, thrust is calculated as what is safely required to get airborne.
Also known as de-rating, the manufacturer will separately de-rate an engine to a lower published thrust, or rather the computers regulating the engine will do so, so that a similar engine is used across a range of types, with a maximum thrust of x available for a particular variant of the same type.