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Old 14th Sep 2008, 10:58
  #1671 (permalink)  
HarryMann
 
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As a summary on this aspect:

The observed flight (takeoff) path and behaviour seem now to be looking very much like a slat-less take-off, which is somewhat more important than flap-less, albeit they often go together unless 2nd-segement climb performance becomes critical...

Slats provide ability to attain higher incidence whilst maintaining unstalled flow; flaps provide greater lift without necessity for higher incidence (reduce zero-lift incidence)...

Reported high aircraft incidence at rotation, subsequent loss of lift, including wing-dropping and loss of directional control are all very much pointing at slat-less and (now reported from one source) flap-less take-off.

Tragically, this very same situation seems to have taken place 2 years ago on the same type in the Canary Islands, but with just sufficient margins to allow 'hedge-hopping' flight until acceleration above safe flight speed for that configuration was achieved.

Take-off configuration warning systems designed and in-place to prevent this possibility may not have been working or compromised, in both cases.
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