If a 747 had to emergency land at a small airport, how would it get airborne again?

Question

If a 747 had to do an emergency landing at a small muni airport, how would it get back into the air if there were not enough runway to take off again, even with full flaps/power etc?

Answer 1

well you can lighten the load ( by taking out fuel) and try a short field take off.

what you do is line up on the runway apply brakes add 10 degrees of flaps go full power and release the breaks. that the best way to try and get back up.

well they would never land a plane in an airport knowing that there is not enough runway to takeoff

Answer 2

--With minimum fuel, large headwind component, low temperature, and with full power set while taxiing onto the runway.

Answer 3

In general, if the runway is long enough for the aircraft to safely land, it's long enough for it to safely take off.  If the runway is really short, the aircraft can be stripped of all unnecessary weight, fueled with just enough fuel to get it to another suitable airfield, and then flown out of the airport.  The bare minimum for a 747-400 is around 5000 feet, depending on a lot of different factors.  The stripped aircraft is brought to the end of the runway, the pilots throttle up to full power while holding the brakes, and then the brakes are released.  An empty 747 can accelerate and take off very quickly.

Answer 4

The bigger problem would probably be how would it land there in the first place. There are others who can give you exact figures (Aviophage....?) but a 747 is going to need a good size runway to land even with flaps, spoilers, reversers, etc even at landing weight. If you could get it down in one piece, it could always be dismantled and moved by truck.

Answer 5

With a crane, in pieces, onto the back of several flatbed semi trailers.

Answer 6

Thats a good question. Being a pilot of a 747 i can answer this question. If it were on water they would put down what is called a temporary runway which can float on water, and provide enough room for the plane to take off. But in most cases it wont be on water, so say good bye to 747.

Answer 7

Most smaller municipal runways are fairly close to a larger airport. This means that you could load a comparatively tiny amount of fuel on board to make that short hop. It would also be possible to dismantle the interior to lighten the load. Removing seats, luggage bins, interior wall panels, galley boxes and such could potentially shave a lot of weight. It would be an expensive process, but well worth the cost if you're keeping such an expensive aircraft up and generating revenue. Another trick would be to temporarily remove obstructions like telephone poles and fences. I've seen a lot of little airports with really smooth land on either end of the runway that could possibly be used to start a takeoff roll. There's some risk involved in using dirt, but that can be worked around. If I were running an airline and had to get a monster like that off of a small runway, I'd want to do everything possible to insure that the pilots had plenty of performance. It would be a difficult thing to do, but I think it would be possible to get off of a 5000' runway with some hard work, not to mention cooperation from authorities.In the end, not being blocked by the FAA or local authorites would be the only really difficult part but, basically, I think that where there's a will, there's a way.

Answer 8

Surprisingly, you would stand a good chance of getting in and out of many small municipal airports in the 747.  Most airlines have a policy requiring a minimum of 9,000 feet of runway, but 747s have been operated from runways shorter than 7,000 feet, which would qualify many county airports.

This would not be a standard landing, of course.  You would have to set everything to "crazy dingbat" position and claw for every inch of runway.  The takeoff would also be at reduced weight.

Oddly enough, it would not be possible to dismantle a 747 into small enough pieces to load onto a truck, even with "Wide Load" signs.  If you really did get one into a cornfield, there would be no way to remove it in repairable condition.  But it would sure make a spectacular silo!

PS:  There is no such thing as the "water runway" described by another answerer.  Ditch that answer.

Answer 9

A 737 landed once on a strip of grass in Louisiana next to a levy-  it flew through a very heavy thunderstorm and flamed out both engines so it was dead-stick!  They pulled out the seats and defueled to the bare minimum and flew it out.

During the early days (flight test) the 747 landed at Renton airport, where the 737 is made; that is a municipal airport a little over 5000 foot runway.  The airplane had no payload and light amount of fuel.  It can do it.