A cargo aircraft operated by Rada Airlines has been filmed performing a rather jaw-dropping takeoff. The rare Il-62 was taking off from Serbia’s Niš airport but left it rather late to begin rotating. The late takeoff saw it clipping the trees on the airport boundaries as it apparently struggled to gain altitude.
Ilyushin fancied a spot of tree trimming
A hair raising video has surfaced on social media this week of an Ilyushin aircraft performing a somewhat unconventional takeoff maneuver. As reported by Jalopnik this week, Msaviator shared a clip on YouTube of a cargo plane taking off from Serbia’s Niš Constantine The Great Airport back in July.
The spotter was likely expecting a standard takeoff from what is a very rarely seen aircraft and was keen to film it soaring into the skies. What he got was a rather closer encounter than he expected. Take a look.
The Ilyushin appears to leave rotation (raising the nose) incredibly late. In fact, it is almost at the threshold of the runway before it begins to fly. With such a late rotation, it passes the videographer much lower than it should, clipping the trees and sending debris flying into the air.
The aircraft involved was an Ilyushin Il-62MGr, a 35-year-old cargo aircraft operated by Belarusian company Rada Airlines. Rada flies international cargo operations with its fleet of just two Il-62s and is one of the last airlines to fly the type. The only other airline operating this rare bird is Air Koryo, which has two in commercial service and two in VIP configuration as governmental planes.
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What went wrong?
Popular aviation YouTuber Mentour Pilot posted a reaction video and provided some explanations of everything that is wrong with this takeoff. He noted that, under normal calculations, aircraft should be able to take off and achieve 35 feet clearance with at least 15% of the runway to spare. Even under an engine failure, where the takeoff roll would be longer, aircraft should be capable of achieving a height of 35 feet before the runway threshold.
The Ilyushin doesn’t have an engine failure as far as we can see; everything appears to be functioning properly. However, something clearly went wrong as the aircraft doesn’t even begin rotating until it is pretty close to the end of the runway, and post-threshold, as it flies over the camera, it’s still only about ten feet off the ground.
Mentour Pilot expressed his frustration with the situation, saying,
“I’m shocked to see this … These guys are rotating basically on the threshold markings here. If something were to happen, they have no chance, and if they lose an engine, they will not be able to climb – it’s obvious. So, this is not the way it’s supposed to be.”
You can enjoy his full reaction and explanation of everything that’s wrong with the flight in the video below:
While we don’t know the background of the flight, the late rotation and sluggish ascension indicate something was not at all right. It’s likely the plane was overweight for its specifications, something that should never happen with the appropriate calculations in place.
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