isn’t better for planes on carriers to start at the top of the ramp and get more speed down for takeoff instead of climbing the ramp?
In: 5
Speed and altitude are both energy and can be traded for each other, and the more time you have before you hit the water, the less power you need to build up enough energy. Taking off going upward increases the amount of time you have in the air on a ballistic trajectory.
Pulling up out of a dive will also mean additional induced drag.
Lets say you’re 100 feet up and throw a ball 30 degrees up at 50mph. On the way back down, the ball will be moving 50mph at 30 degrees when it gets back to the starting altitude, ignoring air resistance. That extra time for your engines to accelerate you is what you’d be giving up.
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