These factors include minimum control speed, refusal speed, rotation speed, lift-off speed, climb-out speed, three-engine rate of climb, decision speed, flap-retraction speeds, and
center-of-gravity limits. Usually, these factors easily are covered and managed by our standard takeoff brief.
The release was a built-in safety feature; it might have saved the aircraft and aircrew from a dangerous situation with the load still attached to one hook and the aircraft out of
center-of-gravity limits. The release of the boat could be seen on our FLIR as it fell to the ground from an altitude of 400 feet AGL.