Why do pilots say “rotate” when taking off, also some say it when lowering the nose during landing?
In: 113
[deleted]
Because the whole plane is rotating around the axis that goes through it from side to side, as you pull the nose up to get the plane airborne.
Quite importantly in aviation, communication needs to be very clear and the word rotate ONLY has that specific meaning, as opposed to for instance pull up, which also means pulling up whilst in the air.
Pilot here: The term rotate is the point where the pilot begins to raise the nose at a set rotational rate to avoid striking the tail before lift off. Usually it’s a set number of degrees per second. I’ve never heard of the term being used during landing.
During take off, two key speeds (or velocities) are reached. V1 is takeoff speed, meaning the aircraft now has enough momentum to have to commit to the takeoff.
V2 is the speed at which you can safely takeoff on the runway length remaining with an engine failure and you are committed to taking off even if something goes wrong.
The pilot flying stops looking at any displays at V1 and focuses entirely on the outside of the cockpit.
The pilot monitoring calls rotate when they see the flight computer and HUD show the aircraft is at the correct speed, and the pilot flying then does so.
A quick note:
The terminology used is consistent, and it is chosen specifically so that it will not cause any possible confusion with any other term used at the time. If you want to see why this is important, look up why the disaster at Ternerife happened.
I’ve never heard of it being used for landing but it’s the term that denotes when the pilot starts raising the nose of the aircraft during take off. Take off is the most dangerous part of a flight and it’s important that both pilots are communicating with each other and are in complete sync so that if anything goes wrong they can immediately start taking measures instead of scrambling to communicate and assign tasks.
And it’s called that because the plane does rotate, just not in the axis we would typically think intuitively when we think of a plane rotating.
V1 – speed at which takeoff cannot be aborted (ie committed to takeoff)
Vr – rotate speed, speed at which pilot lifts nose wheel transition to flight
V2 – take off safety speed (safe engine out climb speed in multi engine aircraft)
V1 and Vr are normally very close together.
[removed]
It might not be the pilots saying it. It is likely to be the guidance computer telling the pilot that they have reached the necessary speed needed to begin rotation of the plane about its lateral axis, i.e. pull the nose up.
Can you site an example of it being used during landing?
Latest Answers