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I used to fly a 108hp Grumman Yankee off of a 2000' grass strip. With two people and full fuel on board, I would let her roll with neutral controls and no flaps nearly the entire length of the runway to gather speed before dropping the flaps a bit and pulling back on the yoke to lift off into ground effect. Attempting to rotate prior to achieving sufficient speed, would result in too much drag and only prolong the takeoff roll in that ground loving Grumman.
This pilot was likely doing something similar.... avoiding creating speed killling drag by leaving the nose down until reaching max speed at the end of the runway.
I am not saying that situation is ideal, but it obviously works in some situations. I would rather be in the air slowly building speed in ground effect just over the water at the end of the runway than to drive/crash into the water due to heaving the nose up too prior to reaching flying speed.
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German autos: '79 911 SC, '87 951, '03 330i, '08 Cayenne, '13 Cayenne
0% Liberal
Men do not quit playing because they get old.... They get old because they quit playing.
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