You had to pry the heavy plane from the plateau below minimum lift-off speed.

DrearnStar was in takeoff attitude but she was still far, far from lift-off speed.

Nearing lift-off speed, NK 19 began to skitter over the wave tops.

Crucially, this coat of small air bubbles acts as a lubricant, drastically reducing drag, enabling the penguins to reach lift-off speeds.

The combination of slow lift-off speed and the extreme angle of attack (and attendant drag) resulted in an unrecoverable stall, yaw, and descent.

The information from the FDR was consistent with a take-off having been attempted with the flaps stowed, which meant that the lift-off speed was too high to be reached on the runway.

The ideal pitch attitude was easy to maintain, being with the top of the engine cowling just below the horizon, and like this we quickly reached the fiftyknot lift-off speed to part company with the viscous sea and curve easily away over the Solent.

It was possible that the pilot had not seen the approach of the flood waters, possible but unlikely: it was more likely that he had seen them, reckoned that he had nothing to lose either way, continued accelerating but failed to gain lift-off speed before being caught.