[jskrablin]

Jet engine intake is basically a giant vacuum cleaner... and the jet engine itself can be destroyed by a small debris like small stones etc which is plentiful around any kind of a road. And a damaged jet engine is kinda bad news on takeoff, especially if there's only one to begin with.

A-10's high mounted jet engines are up there for a reason. It can operate from almost anything resembling a runway.

[paganel]

The Soviets/Russians seem to have solved that problem, this runway [1] looks worse than many county roads around these parts of Eastern Europe where I live.

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sCLpnQPTWww