4 ms·

Clearly a departure. Went wheels up right after rotate. No way they'd be that low with the gear position the way it is without a failure. No landing markers in

by ccrush 10y ago

Clearly a departure. Went wheels up right after rotate. No way they'd be that low with the gear position the way it is without a failure. No landing markers in sight. This is either a take off or a disaster.

ppod 10y ago
The gear aren't in the process of being retracted in that photo, they have that backward tilt on landing too. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Ba_b747-400_g-civx_maingeardetail_arp.jpg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Ba_b747-400_g-civx_mainge... Gear are retracted once a positive rate of climb has been achieved, but not that early.
- coredog64 10y ago
  To add to your comment, the FO watches the speed tape and VSI and calls out events to the captain (V1, V2, rotate, positive rate-gear up). I looked around on Youtube for some good examples, and this was the best I could find: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5wjoF8-Oaew https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5wjoF8-Oaew The captain keeps a hand on the throttles until V1, and then it is several seconds after takeoff that FO retracts the gear.
robotmlg 10y ago
Asker found the full set of photos confirming that it's a landing: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BxQOwrukppp5WTlfaEFLTVNzTnc/view https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BxQOwrukppp5WTlfaEFLTVNzTnc...
- niels_olson 10y ago
  Theory vs experiment. More data always wins.
danaliv 10y ago
That gear is down. The trucks are designed to hang at an angle like that.