The thread has crept somewhat but throughout my longhaul career I was fairly certain that most of the so-called safety margins were very marginal but could somehow be justified on paper. Max weight (over?) 747-100 departures from Caribbean islands were usually a matter of holding your breath just after rotation and hoping that the gear didn't hit anything on the boundary. Similarly at very low temperatures out of Anchorage trying to accelerate and climb.Or Nairobi with runway temperature quoted in 1/2 degrees to fiddle the book figures. 3 engines shortly after V1 would have been interesting. Fortunately the first generation of 707 and 747s IIRC didn't have the added potential for cockups of reduced thrust take-offs. As a young F/O on a very hot and humid Lourenco Marques departure I called rotate, the a/c lifted off briefly and then settled back on the r'way. The second attempt succeeded-just...
Last edited by Lodems; 19th Oct 2017 at 12:40.
Reason: typo islands