Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by AdrianB1 1219 days ago
That means rotating at a higher speed than calculated Vr, this is also bad as you put more wear in the tires and use more fuel (rolling on the tires vs flying in the air) to take off. The Vr is an optimal speed, below is dangerous, above is wasteful.
1 comments

I think the more important factor is that it eats runway and takes longer to reach safe speeds. If there is a problem at rotation you want as much runway available as possible. If you delay rotation not only are you further down the runway before "really rotating", but you're traveling faster. A 10-knot increase in speed means 20% more energy to disipate. And you're even further above the brake's certified performace. And you've dawdled in getting to safe climb speeds; you accelerate more slowly rolling than flying.

Edit: Actually, that probably doesn't even come into it. Not a pilot, but don't imagine "barely rotate so the nosewheel is in the air but still have negative angle of attack so no lift" is very easy, or very stable if possible. Even if you could do it, you'd risk slamming the nosewheel back into the runway.

V_r is almost always above V_1, which is the decision speed. If you're going to abort a takeoff, that decision needs to be made before V_1, otherwise you're likely to overrun the end of the runway.

So, once you get to the stage where you're ready to rotate, or even late in rotating, you're committed to getting the plane off the ground.

On a big airliner yes. V1 depends on the runway length so a smaller aircraft will easily reach Vr before V1. Because most runways are made for the biggest planes.