>>>>>http://www.boeing.com/commercial/news/2008/q2/080505b_nr.html
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>I hope they're better built than this one
>>>>
>>>>http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=x1-f0GOFSEg
>>>
>>>Wasn't that breakup the result of a crash?
>>>
>>>I dunno, if you hit the ground hard enough to break a B747 in half, and everyone walks away (4 of 5 people on board "slightly injured") that seems like a pretty good testimonial to me.
>>
>>
>>On take off I think
>>
>>http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/europe/05/25/belgium.aircrash.ap/index.html
>>
>>still a good testimonial but perhaps overloaded ?
>
>Could be, or maybe they lost power for some reason. Takeoffs are in some ways more hazardous than landings - at maximum weight, full of fuel (which thankfully didn't go up in this case).

You bet. Passenger and transport aircraft routinely take off at weights greater than their max landing weight. Takeoff generally doesn't impose high downward (impact) forces on the gear or wings (unless it is a US Airways flight - they have perfected high speed impact at any phase of flight).