Can a plane ever safely take off with full retracted flaps?

Question

Can a plane ever safely take off with full retracted flaps?

Answer 1

Many aircraft will not becone airborne or climb in a timely fashion without takeoff flaps set. This includes practically all heavy transports and quite a few smaller aircraft as well (Britten Norman Islander, DHC Twin Otter).



For other aircraft it is a comfort thing. A notch or two of flap allows the aircraft to get up and climb quicker. Even the docile Cessna 172 will get uncomfortably close to the trees at the end if I take off with zero flap fully loaded on a hot day.



There have been a few accidents I can think of relating to forgotten flaps. One was a 727 where the crew were gossiping before takeoff and didn't set them. One was a Twin Otter on floats in the Maldives. Another was a Convair 580 at the company I used to work for where the pilots wanted to test the engine power before takeoff and disabled the flap warning horn (which goes off when the engines are powered up if the flaps are up) by bumping the flaps down a hair

Answer 2

If the pilot knows the flaps are retracted and the runway is long enough, the aircraft can takeoff safely. Flaps add drag and lift to allow a plane to takeoff and land in much shorter distances. In the case in your question the pilots attempted a takeoff at too slow an airspeed and crashed. If a no-flap takeoff had been prescribed and the field long enough, there would have been no problem.

Answer 3

In military jets one can take off without flaps, but it does make for quite a long roll. After the normal 1/2 flap take-off, there is quite an attitude change to compensate for the loss of lift when retracting the flaps. To make a high performance take-off without the danger of settling back down onto the runway (it has happened), the pilot can execute a flaps-up take-off. An uncomfortable experience though.

Answer 4

Flaps, regardless of airplane, do two basic things: They allow an airplane to takeoff, climb, descend, and land at significantly lower airspeeds, and they allow for steeper climb and descent gradients. Small aircraft can do just fine without flaps in many scenarios, but since you asked about large jet airplanes, the answer is no in general. At the typical payload and fuel weights of a jet, it would eat up more runway on takeoff and at many airports not be able to clear nearby obstructions. The performance of the airplane would be less than what is required by FAA regulations.



On the other hand, an empty 767 taking off from a 3-mile runway at Edwards AFB with nothing but flat desert for miles around, on a test flight can very safely take-off with no flaps.

Answer 5

Well YES. But due to the requirements of more land for longer runways, it would be stupid not to just simply use flaps for this reason. Flaps increase the chord line of an aerofoil (wing) which increases it's lift capability. There are certain airspeeds for flap positions that can't be exceeded or the flaps will simply tear off from the aircraft. Your question is a little ambiguous because YES you could take off safely, but NO there aren't many runways that would cater for this configuration.

Answer 6

commercial airliners have landed efficiently in fairly much any configuration you could think of, including all engines out. Flaps-up is a concern that i believe a pilot could declare an emergency. S/He could choose an airport with as long a runway as achievable. even in spite of the shown fact that if the innovations-blowing trip spot runway is long, there is not any reason, IMO, to divert. that may no longer a concern the place a pilot could experience pressured to place the airplane on the floor ASAP. with the aid of lowering the gas load, the two with the aid of dumping or burning off, the pilot has lightened the deliver for that reason lowering the value mandatory to stay airborne. That by myself will cut back touchdown velocity some. so which you have somewhat bit a warm touchdown, possibly somewhat greater thrust reverser potential and doubtless somewhat warmer brakes yet i do no longer see the place this might qualify as a pilots nightmare. I bear in mind one touchdown in Anchorage, Alaska devoid of flaps. The airplane grow to be a 737, between the early fashions. The pilot did a great interest, with maximum passengers no longer even conscious that we had a situation. i'm a knowledgeable and experienced airplane accident investigator, now retired.

Answer 7

Short answer - no. The operative word is "safely". In all large transport category aircraft that I'm aware of, if the flaps are inoperable the plane is grounded. Could one take off without flaps extended? With enough runway and a lack of obstacles in the way during initial climb, the answer is maybe, depending on the conditions and the plane in question.

Answer 8

Any airplane can take off without flaps … eventually.



The main reason for taking off with flaps partially or full extended is to reduce the amount of time and distance required to leave the runway. The flip side of this is that flaps increase drag a lot and make it more difficult to rapidly build airspeed after leaving the ground.



Large airliners usually take off with flaps partially extended, and in fact any high-speed aircraft may use flaps at takeoff, because airplane designs that fly well at high speed often have poor performance at low speeds. Low-speed aircraft don't usually need flaps to take off because they have good low-speed performance (since that's the only speed they have!).



If your runway is long enough, you can take off without flaps in any aircraft. Most airports don't have runways long enough for that when it comes to jets, so the jets have to set some degree of flaps before taking off.



There are sometimes other reasons for taking off with flaps. One example is speed restrictions for the tires. You might be able to take off without flaps, but only at a speed that is higher than the tires are certified for. This effectively forces you to use flaps at takeoff except for emergencies.

Answer 9

What sort of plane? I take off with no flaps in a 172 all the time, unless I'm performing a short field or soft field takeoff.

Answer 10

Safe is a relative term.

Can it be done? Yes. All large aircraft have a procedure for a Zero Flap takeoff. It is rarely done and only in extreme circumstance to move an aircraft to a repair station.

Done with minimum fuel, no cargo or passengers. It will take a lot of runway.

It is an Emergency Procedure, crews review it and practice in the Simulator, Not done in the real world unless absolutely necessary.

Answer 11

Yes it will still take off just fine. The flaps do increase the lift, but they also increase drag. The plane may need to go slightly faster, but it will take off just the same. not positive on this part but....The extra lift from the flaps reduces the need to raise the nose as high; therefore reducing the chance of a tailstrike

Answer 12

My buddy takes off from a dirt strip/road in back of his house and rarely uses flaps unless he is loaded up for a long trip.

Answer 13

Well, its going to require much more runway to take off, but it is possible. All the flaps do during take off is add lift, so just compensate for it by adding more speed.

Answer 14

The answer is no as there is a big difference between simulation and reality. If you want to check whats are the consequenses of taking off without flaps please check AIR CRASH INVESTIGATION season 08 episode 03 Cockpit Chaos. You can download it from www.torrentz.com

Answer 15

yes... but this will also increase you total take-off distance and you may need a higher rotate speed,

if you want to give yourself a scare go for it!!!

Answer 16

safely? no.



can it take off? yes.