What's V1?
I understand this is speed, on take off, above which the aircraft is committed to fly (if possible) despite any failure occurring. You take the failure into the air.
I always assumed this speed was calculated taking available runway length into account, and if you try to stop after V1 you are in serious danger of over-running the runway and going off the end. Hence the need to fly with a failure after V1.
However, I was talking to a couple of retired Big Aeroplane driver mates the other day and they told me this was not the case! V1 is calculated for weight and other factors, but runway length isn't one of them. As one of these guys said "if you were taking off from Bonneville Salt Flats the calculated V1 would be the same as from any airfield. I'd probably stop after V1 if there was no doubt about available length to stop in, but it would get me a fail on a sim check".
What's the point of V1, then?