Ask an Explainer

Due to Newton's second law, a plane would need enough thrust to overcome the force of gravity to takeoff vertically if propped on its tail. The average force of gravity acting on an aeroplane is 680,000 Newtons, the unit of force, and the average thrust created by an aeroplane is 200,000 Newtons, no where near enough to overcome gravity. The smallest thrust needed to takeoff is only 1/18th the weight of the aeroplane, and since no passanger plane has 18 times the neccessary thrust, no passanger airplane could take off vertically if propped on the tail.