Departing 727 Freighter Uses Whole Runway, Plus Some Dirt

[Matt Molnar]

Somewhere in the Congo:


A CAA 727, possibly the one in the video, suffered substantial damage when it went off the end of the runway in Kinshasa this past January.
http://aviation-safety.net/database/rec ... 20100102-0

[Big Tim #70]

I used to work for an FBO in Long Beach fueling for Fed Ex, Airborne Express & UPS back in the 90's. When UPS went on their strike, Airborne Express was trying to pick up the slack with their old non-retro fitted DC-8's. One day they had a full Cargo load and needed extra fuel for weather in the Midwest. We all went out to the ramp to watch her go and she used every foot of that 10,000ft runway and then just barely cleared the fence at the North end.

Pretty freaky to see a plane that size struggling to get into the air, more so when you know that if it doesn't make it, it's dropping into residential neighborhoods.

[hiss srq]

I would venture to bet he was riding the stick shaker into the air. He probably yanked that old lady off the ground because almost as soon as he has terrain clearnce he shoves the nose over and levels out for speed. If that happened in the states someone would get the old airmen certificate rub and tug probably.

[ulikeairplanes2]

Crazy. Doesn't look like they're getting much in the way of altitude even after getting off the ground.

[DHG750R]

Thats not the place you want to lose an engine..