At the point of takeoff

[muttley]

What speed is an airliner travelling at when on the runway before takeoff?

[sddsddean]

Depends on various things, such as aircraft type, fuel load etc., but a ball park figure is around 120 mph. One of the main exceptions to this is Concorde. As it has a fixed delta wing, it is not very good at generating low speed lift and has to be doing around 180mph to takeoff.

[muttley]

hey thanks, that has always puzzled me. It does seem much faster when looking out the window though I guess the engine roar adds to the 'feel' of travelling faster.

[sft42]

A pilot would tell you the technical term for this is V2.....the lift off speed....V1 is the speed where it's too late too abort the take off and they are committed to a take off and you have a little bit to go to get to V2...and I agree sdds a rough figure of between 120 to 140 depending on the loads carried and type of craft.

[Gef]

The figures quoted so far are a bit low. Remember that aircraft speed is measured in knots and 1 knot is approx 1.2 mph. For lots of info search google for "take off speed" and then search within the results for V2.

[Gef]

I was on a BA plane yesterday and found the following info in one of their magazines. For the big Boeing 747s the takeoff speed is 207mph and the landing speed is 183mph! Not bad for something weighing 396 tonnes.