Why do planes come to a dead halt before starting to take off?

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Billybean

Basically, they come into take-off line-up then hold the brakes on while they crank up the engines.
This might sound silly but it is the way it goes. An aeroplane needs everything that it has got to get into the sky, so cranking up the engines before letting go of the brakes and catapaulting itself down the runway is the way to go.

kumala

gets into position and waits for clearance to take off

S Csparky

waiting for air traffic control to say
take off.!!

lucifer_sam_48

power up engines check for any problems,
find out at end of runway rather than half way down it.

captbullshot

All of the above are correct.

weeman1971

The first movement is from the boarding gate at the terminal to the runway it is going to take off from, the halt is so that the pilot can check with the control tower that it is safe to take off to prevent air collisions with incoming aircraft.

SWEngr

Started way back when, when small planes depended on magnetos to make electrical sparks to run the engines. The planes had 2 magnetos, they would test one, switch to the back-up, test it, then switch back. From there, items to check were added, since it was a logical place for the pilot to focus on checking the plane.

So now they do a final takeoff checklist. Planes are not designed to roll on the ground well. They can overheat, ice up, injest debris (FOB), flight controls can get in weird configurations, etc.

So there is one final checklist. Theu are making sure the flaps and other control surfaces are in the right position, gadges all read in the green, etc. They are getting one last check on other AC, they'll announce something like "Delta 411 rolling on takeoff on runway A4", which gives the tower one last opportunity to detect a problem, like southwest 312 landing on the same runway.

On really short runways they can also use the brakes to hold the plane, and rev up the engines. This gets rid of the small delay between the pilot moving the throttle, and the engines actually throttling up.

SP/ARMAGH

At busier airports its usual procedure to get lined up on the runway and await final clearance, usually because another plane has just taken off or landed using the runway.

It is not necessary for a plane to stop, it is possible, and indeed often the procedure that if clearance is given on taxi (ie there is no need to obtain final clearance as there is no other traffic to affect take off), then the plane can commence take off whilst pulling onto the runway. It cant start too soon for the comfort of passengers and also the stresses on tyres etc.

Dangermanmi6

They don't have to, I've been on several flights as a pax and driving the bus where we just turned off of the taxiway and departed. There are many reasons why we were able to do this time of year, aircraft load (empty), traffic volume, and ATC screwing up and having to expedite my departure. You want to make sure that the runway is a long one and the aircraft is light in the cargo department because it can be a bad scene if you get it wrong.

Chariotmender

Some silly answers here. The reason is the pilot puts on the brakes while he revs/powers up the engine. Racing drivers do the same thing. It means that you have maximum power as soon as the brakes are released, giving you a head start on take off speed. Basically you can get off the ground in the shortest distance possible!

Michael W

Several reasons:
Final take-off clearance, safety checks, and to get the engines up to take-off thrust are probably the main ones though.

granpabear

The plane is plucking up courage to take off...having a think as to whether it really wants to jump in the air with no wings to flap with all those big people in its belly...I'd think twice wouldn't you??

Cheeky

Do they, i'll check that out next time a fly. Have a good day.

the italian idol

next time take time to hear that the engine roars at that very time as it revs enough power to lift off the ground.

its like this. the plane uses a different gear to run the plane onto position on the runway. the deadhalt you refer to is the time when the pilot shifts to another gear for takeoff and revs engine as well.

don't compare it to a car where you continually shift gear from 1 to 5 while running. the plane does not work like that. if you notice in movies, the pilot shift a big gear for takeoff and it would be mightily difficult for him and for the engine to gear from 1 to 3 then fly !!!

Lucky Man.

What planet is this on??

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