Thepicturebelowshowsthetopviewoftheaircraftinquestion.

Firstofall,fromthetopview,
weknowthattheenginesarefixedtothebodyoftheplane(indicatedbytheredboxinFigure
1).Thus,itisimpossibleforthemtorotateastheydidintheclip,toallowtheupwardthrust.

Figure1.Topviewoftheaircraft
(Bohling&Vaughn,2015)

However,ifweweretosaytheenginescould
rotate,itmustgenerateenoughthrustforcethat
overcomestheweight.
ThisisbecauseofNewtonssecondlawthat
states
objectsaccelerateinthedirectionofthe
netexternalforce,anditsaccelerationisalways
inverselyproportionaltoitsmass(
DiGiuseppe,
2011,p.131)
.
Inthiscase,theremustbeanet
externalforceof N[up](where isapositive
realnumber),thatallowstheplanetoaccelerate
upwards,andliftoffvertically.
Also,weknowthatthisforceisathrust,notalift,
asenginesuseNewtonsthirdlaw1togenerate
thisforcethat
pushes
theairplaneup2 .

Sincethenetforcecanbecalculatedbysubtractingtheairplanesweightfromthethrustforce,
thefollowingequationisgiven:
F
=F
F
net
app
g
*
ignoredrag(a.k.a.airresistance)*

Foreveryaction,thereisasimultaneousreactionthatisequalinmagnitudebutoppositeindirection
(DiGiuseppe,2011,p.137).
2
Thrustisdefinedasthemechanicalforcegeneratedbytheenginestomovetheaircraftthroughtheair
(Forces,n.d.).

However,beforewecancalculateanything,weneedvaluesforthemassoftheaircraftandalso
theenginesthrustcapacity.Insteadofassuming,Ifoundthefollowingsetofrealdata(Figure
5)usingtheaircraftsregistrationnumber(intheredboxofFigure4).

Figure4.Sideviewoftheaircraft
(Bohling&Vaughn,2015)

Figure5.AircraftN247CKdatasummary

(
http://flightaware.com/resources/registration/N247CK
)

1. Calculatetheweightoftheaircraft.
According to the data chart, the mass of the plane is approximately 20000 lbs, which is
equivalent to approximately 9072 kg. This value will be used to calculate the weight. The
accelerationduetogravityis
9.8
m/s.


Theequationforweightisgivenasfollows:
F
=mg
g
Thegivensareasfollows:
m=9072kg
g=
9.8
m/s
*
positivevaluesmeanupwarddirection*
Thus:
F
=(9072)(
9.8)=
88905.6N
g

Theweightoftheaircraftis89000N[down].

2. Calculatethethrustforce(F
).
app
According to Honeywell Aerospace, the maximum thrust of an ALF502L2C engine is 33.4 kN
each(Civil,n.d.).Sincetheairplanehastwinengines,thethrustforceis33.4*2=66.8kN.

Thecombinedthrustforceoftheenginesis66.8kN[up].

3. Calculatethenetforce.

F
=F
+F
net
app
g
=66.8kN
88905.6N
=66800N88905.6N
=22105.6N

Thenetforceontheplaneis22kN[down].

Since the net force of the airplane is acting downwards (even higher downwards force if
factoringindrag),itisimpossiblefortheairplanetoaccelerateupwardsfromastableground.
Thus, the vertical takeoff shown in this scene is an example of bad physics that violates
Newtons second law. More realistic method of takeoff would be a horizontal takeoff, that is
ironicallyshownlaterinthefilm(alsoshownintheclipabove).

Whyincorporatethisbadphysics?
The firstreasonastowhythisscenewasusedisthefactthatthiseightandahalfsecondclipis
so minor in the overall scope of the action scenes in the film that the editors overlooked the
physicsflaw.Butmorelikelyexplanationlieswiththedirectorhimself.
The director, Matthew Vaughn has directed XMen:First Class where he used another vertical
takeoff and landing (VTOL) aircraft named Blackbird (Figure6).However,incomparisontothe
aircraft used in Kingsman, Blackbird has mechanisms that enables vertical take off (Figure 7)
and it also resembles more of the VTOL aircrafts that actually exists today, such as F35B
(Figure 8 & 9). It is most likely that the director, already having incorporated a VTOL aircraft in

one of his previous action films, wanted to reuse the idea to highlight the action and the
astoundinggraphicsofthemovieandimpresstheaudience.

Figure6.BlackbirdinXMen:FirstClass
(
http://screencrave.com/wpcontent/uploads/2011/02/XMenFirstClassTheBlackbird.jpg
)

Figure7.CrosssectionalviewofBlackbird
(
http://images4.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20100117204847/marveldatabase/images/f/ff/XMen_Annual_Vol_2_1_XMe
n_Blackbird.jpg
)


Figure8.F35BVTOLaircraft
(
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b1/An_F35B_Lightning_II_aircraft_lands_aboard_the_amphibiou
s_assault_ship_USS_Wasp_(LHD_1).jpg
)

Figure9.F35BsRollsRoyceLiftSystem
(
http://www.rollsroyce.com/productsandservices/defenceaerospace/products/combatjets/rollsroyceliftsystem/tec
hnology.aspx
)

References

Bohling,A.(Producer),&Vaughn,M.(Director).(2015).
Kingsman:TheSecretService
[MotionPicture].UnitedKingdom:20thCenturyFox.

DiGiuseppe,Maurice,etal.(2011).
Physics11.
Toronto:NelsonEducationLtd.

JetEngine.(n.d.).
CivilTurbojet/TurbofanSpecifications.
Retrievedfrom
http://www.jetengine.net/civtfspec.html

NASA.(n.d.).
ForcesonanAirplane.
Retrieved
https://www.grc.nasa.gov/www/k12/airplane/forces.html