Thank you for your generosity.
I'm sure the pilots handled a situation well within parameters with a standard procedure that was well executed - I am just trying to understand it. As an SLF armed only with Google and Mark I brain, I'm trying to figure out from basic physics how trained professionals fly me from A to B repeatably and safely.
They come down to close zero altitude above hard pavement at "approach idle" thrust with little energy and DECIDE conditions are not conducive to wheels down. The pilots hit the TOGA thrust buttons, but then have to fly the aircraft attitude themselves, with hands and brains, not computer. The wind is gusting unpredictably.
My naive guess is that in still air they could rotate away 1-2 seconds after TOGA, trade some of their remaining airspeed for a few feet of altitude, and quickly get a kick in the seat from the engine spool up and be away. But here they cannot risk rotating up precisely because as FIRESYSOK says if they slow down, an unpredictable tailwind gust could stall one or both wings while they are just above the tarmac- so they need to keep airspeed, which can now be very different from groundspeed. So they are trapped in crosswind hell, fairly near the ground, for a longer time, something like 4-6 seconds, the thrust lag making it more risky to try to go up than to stay level, even with TOGA already set. After 4 seconds or so, they rotate and the engines take them away.
I'm sure someone with real knowledge will be happy to explain the errors in my understanding. One thing I do understand is that this is a case where the guys sitting in the seats in front of first class are earning their pay.
Last edited by edmundronald; 4th Nov 2017 at 21:38.