OK465, the HUD is a great tool, but not all that many airlines have ordered it. My outfit included, they opted rather for ther CAT IIIb option instead. Interesting enough boeing opted to put a dual HUD installation as standard equipment into the 787. Will be interesting to see it in operation.
Anyway, judging correct rotation-rate is nothing new and something we learned from our first take offs during flight school. One just has to adjust rotation rate according to tail clearance and aircraft length, but that can be easily done visually by any competent pilot.
Funny enough, we have both an airbus and a 737 fleet. No tailstrikes on the 737 in the last 30 years although we always flew the longer variants (400, 800) and according to FOQA there is low overall tailstrike risk. On the airbus fleet (except 321) the tailstrike is much higher and we had already few of those. Wonder why, but probably because of a mentality like Dani's that is quite prevalent on that fleet.
Last edited by Denti; 9th Feb 2012 at 09:04.