SESKStuff Everyone Should Know
SESK: Stuff Everyone Should Know · sesk.info/pilot-ground-effect-takeoff

What danger does ground effect create during takeoff?

It can let you lift off too slow to climb once out of it.

  1. Lifting off too slowly to climb once out of it ✔
  2. Stalling at a higher speed near the ground
  3. Losing elevator control on the runway

Why: Near the ground, the surface cuts down wingtip vortices and induced drag. A slow airplane may float off the runway, then settle back as it climbs out of ground effect and induced drag returns.

Huh, didn't know that: At a height of one-tenth its wingspan, a wing's induced drag drops by 47.6 percent.

The dad joke
Why do airplanes love runways? They always help them get off the ground.
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Sources

  1. FAA Pilot's Handbook of Aeronautical Knowledge (FAA-H-8083-25C), Chapter 5 https://www.faa.gov/regulations_policies/handbooks_manuals/aviation/faa-h-8083-25c.pdf

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That's stuff everyone should know.