A friend in Melbourne sent me this absolutely chilling video of a Russian IL-76 taking off from an RAAF base in Australia.
Granted, I flew the F-15, a fighter with so much power we never had to compute takeoff data, but in training I flew T-37s and T-38s, where running the numbers (gross weight, pressure altitude, length of runway) was critical: if your computed takeoff distance was such that you couldn’t reach takeoff speed and still have enough runway to abort and stop should something happen, you didn’t attempt the takeoff. So I’m at least familiar with the concept, all right?
This flight crew didn’t run the numbers, or, if they did, they blew them off, because clearly they never should have attempted this takeoff. Too heavy, too hot outside, not enough runway. But they made it (barely), and watching the video I think I understand Stalingrad. It’s a good thing we never pressed the Russians too hard on that nuclear war thing. Those bastards would have gone for broke!