A veeeeery close one

[detpilot]

No, you dummy, he shouldn't have used 10 or 15. Look at the report of the incident - the pitot tubes were clogged with insects giving
incorrect airspeed readings to the pilots. Now, they're on a short little 6,562 foot runway with no reliable way to judge their speed other
than to look out the window and think "holy screenshitters we're going pretty fast!" If I were flying that plane I would have done the same thing those
guys obviously did: Fly right to the end of the runway and rotate at the last second. Why? Well they can't tell if they're past V1 yet, can't tell if
they're at Vr yet, nothing left to do but pull back and trust to luck. Look at the body angle of the plane when they finally get airborne - very
shallow. If you watch a 737 being rotated by the numbers (at Vr) it comes unstuck with its nose pretty high in the air, which leads me to
believe that the plane in question was rotated well above Vr - proving that the pilots kept the nose on the tarmac until the last second - if
they rotated before Vr they would have just screwed themselves and if they tried to abort the takeoff after V1 they would have been just as
screwed.

Because they didn't abandon the takeoff at 80 knots (where ASIs should have been cross-checked by the PNF) leads me to believe they
either didn't do this or hit the swarm of insects AFTER 80 knots and around V1. I think the flying pilot made an excellent decision
(although probably should have rotated about 50 feet sooner - but I'm not going to knock him for what I consider to be a fine display of
airmanship) to fly how he did. Bad stuff happens real quick in aviation and will kill you very fast. His ability to analyze the problem and
think up a solution was commendable.

I swear except for Anastasios and Joeflyer and a few others the rest of you guys are just morons.

Minus the uncalled for insults, I agree. People love to crucify pilots based on their "flightsim knowledge," without having a CLUE as to what really
happened. If the above story is true about this incident (bugs in the pitot tube), then bravo to the crew. If it's not, then I'll wait for the
official investigation to be completed before I judge anyone.

[ameval]

no joe, i like her because of her sense of humor