Don't laugh too hard...
The older sa-226 mettro2/merlin4 cargo planes I was flying in Colorado had a single RATO/JATO in the tail for emergency use...most were removed when more modern , flat rated motors were installed with water/methonol injection for hot/high takeoffs/emergency use....
We did have one plane the mechanics "forgot" to remove/decommission it....
The pilot flying was told about it...and it was mentioned that if it was "used up" it would make disposal simpler as it would no longer be hazmat....
The plane departed Midway enroute to Michigan's upper peninsula ( to out shop to correct the issue)... After rotation, jato was lit...the guy flying thought wow...nothing happened...must be a dud...(single jato/rato provided 150 lbs of thrust for about 30 seconds if I remember right...long enough to get the gear up).
Frantic call comes over the radio "spendair xxx, you have flames trailing out the rear of your tail....."...a quick explanation there...lol...those were the days....
They can lighten the max take off weight to meet takeoff distance and climb requirements. Or guessing one time waivers could be applied if those limitations have to be adjusted.
Till the late 90's, Pratt&Whitney still had a private airport (renschlenher field) in East Hartford CT, they had a airshow every 2 years....and they would shoehorn a 747 into a sub 5500 foot runway for the airshow...it would leave the "big" main airport (Bradley international) about 20 miles away on a ferry permit....no seats...and enough fuel for one landing try....after landing...The interior was reinstalled for the show....then removed for the flight out....engine technology has improved lots since those 747-300's, as have the basic wing design....
Landing at the wrong airport...reminds me of an event I witnessed back in the early 2000's...
Happens to even the airlines...
When I was based out of Denver.....I was flying cargo to and from many of the ski towns...and I was sitting at the airport that most of the commercial traffic for steamboat springs goes in and out of...Hayden CO...and one of the daily Northwest md83/dc-9 flights called...and reported they had gotten stuck in the dirt the end of the runway at the turnaround.....and to send a bus for their passengers, and a tug...
The poor guy on the radio, the 20 something year old fuel truck driver (non-towered airport) could only say " I'm not sure where you are at, but your not here...."...the radio operator was VERY honest...he could have been at the steamboat springs airport or Craig...both were about 10 miles away in opposite directions up/down the valley with similar runway arrangements, and no towers....
Turns out they had landed on a runway 10 miles up the valley in Craig CO.....on a runway about HALF as long as the crew was expecting....
Northwest had to strip the interior out....let the plane idle for several hours to burn off fuel...but they were able to get the plane out a few days later....different crew of course!!
As an old crew chief once told me " close only counts in horseshoes, hand grenades, nuclear attacks, ballroom dancing and occasional $--t throwing fights.
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