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I was on the bus tour at Van Nuys airport today, and as we were coming around the east side of the airport driving parallel to the 16's, a DC-9 came from behind us, apparently on the ground from the point that I saw it, travelling down the runway with the mains on and the nose very high off the ground, probably only 2 feet from a tail strike, and full thrust reverse. The aircraft went a very unusually long distance down the runway in this configuration, and only in the last couple thousand feet of runway did the nose come down, the aircraft slowed down and turned off at the very end and headed to the FBO just off the left end of 16L.
I didn't see the aircraft taxi down for takeoff, which lends credence to the theory that it was just a very ...sporty... landing technique, but looking at flightaware, there are no DC-9 flights showing up for arrivals or departures today (the weather in the LA area today has not been great, they would have had to have been IFR), which lends credence to the theory that it was a rejected takeoff because if the aircraft had been airborne for any length of time it should have been on flightaware.
Thoughts?
I didn't see the aircraft taxi down for takeoff, which lends credence to the theory that it was just a very ...sporty... landing technique, but looking at flightaware, there are no DC-9 flights showing up for arrivals or departures today (the weather in the LA area today has not been great, they would have had to have been IFR), which lends credence to the theory that it was a rejected takeoff because if the aircraft had been airborne for any length of time it should have been on flightaware.
Thoughts?