alt Hacker NewsIsn't it the opposite? Landing stress a sub-section of the runway while departures stress a larger portion?
I'd be surprised that a heavier plane on takeoff exerts more force on the runway than a lighter plane landing.
And as the departing plane goes faster, doesn't the lift take stress off the runway?
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Planes all start their take off from basically the same position and stress the whole runway, slowly lowering as lift increases, but at their highest weight.
It's the same principle as walking on snow in normal shoes vs. snow shoes. Taking off is normal shoes, a lot of pressure concentrated at the very first part of the runway. Landing is snow shoes because it's distributed across more of the physical surface, and the plane weighs a lot less when it lands anyway.
Watch the video. He says for long range flights, fuel is half of the total weight of the plane.
> And as the departing plane goes faster, doesn't the lift take stress off the runway?
Only for a short period between rotation and liftoff. Most of the takeoff roll is spent building up horizontal speed; the pilot doesn't command the aircraft to pitch up before it's ready to lift off.