Pic of the Day

Long Exposure of an Airliner Lifting Off

It looks like the airliner took off almost straight up. However, the width of the path (airplane) at the top of the climb is roughly twice what it is at the bottom, which means it's twice as far away from the camera. If the camera is a thousand feet away, then that means the climb covered a thousand feet of ground. If the camera is a mile away, then that means the airplane covered a mile of ground.

Assuming the wingspan of the aircraft is 150 feet, and using a ruler to scale the image, I'm guesstimating the airliner leveled off around a thousand feet of altitude.

This got me to wondering just how steep an airliner could climb. I saw an F-4 Phantom do a vertical climb right after take off at an airshow in Phoenix umpteen years ago (sometime in the late 1980's). That was impressive, lots of smoke and thunder. Also a lot jet fuel dripping out of the aircraft sitting on the ground. Did not seem to concern anyone, got the feeling that that was just the nature of the beast.

These days it seems that even some airliners can take off straight up.


Boeing Vietnam Airlines 787-9 Dreamliner Vertical Takeoff & Steep Turns 2015 Paris Air Show Prep
How in the heck did they make that video? Some of those shots are downright scary. Here's how:


Making of - Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner flying display
Your average airliner takes off at an angle of 15 to 20 degrees.

Via daily timewaster