By now, most of us have seen the Nissan pickup truck commercial where the little truck drives under a jetliner’s damaged nose gear and “rescues” the plane. Well, I’m here to tell you that the commercial is total bullshit - most of them are, I guess.
Image - Nissan pickup “saving the day”
First, let’s discuss the touchdown speed of a Boeing 767. In landing configuration, full flaps and gear down, the airspeed is about 124 knots, or 143 miles per hour. I seriously doubt that a small pickup can reach such a speed.
Then there is the matter of the maximum landing weight of a 767 being equal to 175 tons, or 348,390 pounds. Being very generous with the distribution of 80 percent of the weight being carried on the main landing gear, the 20 percent carried by the nose gear would be upwards of seventy thousand pounds. That would totally squish that poor little truck like it was a bug.
The only thing lacking on the commercial is the “Demonstration - do not attempt” disclaimer. And, don’t get me started about that Nissan Leaf commercial where everyone has appliances that are powered by internal combustion engines. What a bunch of unmitigated bullshit!